Su Jeong Jang expels
Makoto Ninomiya in Girls’ Singles 1st round – US Open 2011
Day 8 of the US Open 2011 saw the opening round of the Girls’ Singles event. Japanese Makoto Ninomiya collided with Korean Su Jeong Jang in the main draw of the event. As the two contenders battled it out on show court 14 of the
USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, the one moving ahead into the next round was Korean qualifier Jang with a straight set victory of 7-6(3), 7-5.
Since the two were meeting for the first time, they were unfamiliar with each other’s style and technique. After winning the pitch, Ninomiya opened the score board at 1-0 but in the second game Jang was able to even out the score
at 1-1 by winning on her serve. In the third game the Jang was first to break but Ninomiya broke back in the fourth. The two again broke each other in the fifth and sixth game to equalize the score at 3-3. In the following four games the challengers held their
serves to balance the score board at 5-5. At such a critical point in the set, Jang broke her Japanese adversary to take the lead at 6-5 but not wanting the Korean to take the upper hand Ninomiya broke back to push the set into a tie breaker. During the tie
breaker Ninomiya was exhausted and unable to win more than three points she lost the tie breaker and the opening set.
Opening the second set was again Ninomiya and both the players won on alternate serves in the first two games. In the following six games the players broke each other back-to-back three times each at which the score board was levelled
at 4-4. In the ninth and tenth game both again won on their respective serves to tie the score at 5-5. Neither of the players was ready to throw in the towel but as Ninomiya was serving Jang took the first chance to break her rival and then went on to holding
her serve in the twelfth game and came out victorious after a long marathon second set.
Ninomiya had tried very hard to surpass her opponent but eventually lost due to a number of unforced errors and double faults committed. Mean while, the Korean had assessed her opponent in the first set and accordingly turned a
notch higher in returns. With superb backhand swings and forehand ground strokes, the Korean qualifier secured a berth in the second round. She will now be facing American Jessica Pegula, who is seeded at number fourteen.
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