Sorana Cirstea upsets Yanina Wickmayer in round one - Western and Southern Open 2012
World number 41, Sorana Cirstea, did extremely well to fight back a set down and oust the 30th ranked Belgian superstar, Yanina Wickmayer, in the tournament opener during Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati. She bagged
the win 6(6)-7, 6-2, 6-3 in a battle of two hours and 10 minutes.
Last three times these players faced each other, it was the 22-year-old Belgian who won all occurrences but this time Cirstea made sure that she didn’t lose and get off the mark and narrow the head-to-head trail to 1-3.
The opening set was a display of pure class and timing at both ends. No player managed to break serve despite Wickmayer being close on five different occurrences.
Cirstea always managed to hang on after an intense battle and it was a mind-startling clash of two classy athletes.
However, a tie-breaker round was bound to separate the two performers and Wickmayer edged the contest with an early mini-break; winning the opening set with 49 points compared to 43 of her foe.
The turnaround was definitely on the cards with the Romanian beauty starlet eager to prove her worth. She broke serve in the second game and took a lead of 3-0 upfront courtesy two successive serve holds.
She continued to stamp her authority and broke serve for the second time in the set to pile up a lead of 5-1 that surely would have eased her nerves. A trade of breakthroughs ended the set in her favour.
The final set commented with serve holds at both ends for the first four games. However, a mini heart-attack was witnessed for the 22-year-old Romanian who failed to hold her serve in the fifth game.
However, the tables were turned upon the 30th ranked Belgian who couldn’t hang on to the lead and gifted the breakthrough back to her rival.
Cirstea held her serve to 40:15 in the following game and marched on win four points on the trot that helped her to break serve and take a lead of 5-3.
A serve hold for Cirstea ended the clash in her favour and booked her a date with the ninth seed Chinese, Li Na.
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