Stephanie Foretz Gacon retires to gift a main round spot to Alexandra Panova – BNP Paribas Open 2012
Stephanie Foretz Gacon of France retired in the second set of the final qualifying match against Alexandra Panova of Russia to gift her opponent a place in the main round of the BNP Paribas Open. The Russian was already leading
by a set, 6-2, when her opponent pulled out of the contest due to injury. The match hardly lasted 38 minutes.
The 84th ranked Russian started the match in an emphatic fashion; winning the opening serve game without losing a single point. She carried the momentum throughout the set and never looked back for a second as if she
had only one thing in her mind; to win the encounter.
In the third game of the set, Gacon slipped miserably and slightly injured herself that limited her shot making in the following games. It was clearly visible that she was not feeling well but she wasn’t ready to quit at that stage.
Slow paced serves, due to pain in her arm, only helped her opponent to gobble up the first breakpoint of the match in the fourth game. Panova continued to dominate the proceedings and Gacon’s will to fight through pain and finish
the match was only worsening her injury.
Another breakpoint for the Russian in the sixth game gave her an unassailable lead of 5-1 in the match with her opponent suffering severely from an injury. It was getting ominous for the French with her opponent racing away with
the show.
The Russian spared a couple of games for the French before registering a comprehensive first set triumph. At that stage, physio of Gacon gave her the treatment and she consulted with her coach who gave a negative signal. The French
decided to end her misery and retire from the match as it was only worsening her injury that could possibly prove to be disastrous in the long-run.
Panova marches on to the main round of the tournament. She is drawn to face the fellow qualifier from America, Varvara Lepchenko, who dumped the superior ranked Romanian contestant in a gruelling three-setter.
Greta Arn, Casey Dellacqua, Alexandra Wozniak, Olga Govortsova, Michaella Krajicek, Shuai Zhang, Lesia Tsurenko, Kristina Barrois, Eleni Daniilidou and Jessica Pegula also won their matches to progress into the first round of the
tournament.
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