Tamira Paszek dumps Heather Watson to reach the semis – Bell Challenge 2011
World number 40, Tamira Paszek of Austria, cruised through the quarter-final round of the Bell Challenge, in Quebec, Canada, defeating the 19-year-old Briton, Heather Watson, on Friday night.
Being played on the indoor hard courts, the contest witnessed brilliant power hitting from the third seed Paszek, settling the matchup in straight sets 6-4, 7-6(5), to make it to the round of four of the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association)
event.
The unseeded Watson hung in the contest for two hours and eight minutes before crumbling in the second set to let Paszek away with a convincing victory. The Austrian kept her clean record against Watson, defeating her for a second
consecutive time in the current year. Paszek outplayed the Briton in straight sets 6-0, 6-3, in the qualifying draws of the tournament in Estoril earlier this season and repeated the similar feat this time around to register her 33rd victory of
the running year.
Watson fought valiantly in the contest but proved no match for the belligerent Austrian. The Briton dropped the opener without a great resistance but gave a stiff contest to Paszek in the second before losing it in the tie breaker
round.
Paszek was brilliant with her serve game in the match, banging 73 per cent of her serve on target and clinched 40 out of 66 first serve points in the contest to come out as the winner. Watson lagged far behind with merely 21 first
serve points and a big number of unforced errors, including five double faults.
The unseeded Briton had a brilliant start in the opening set, breaking the third seed in the fourth game to lead 4-1 early in the match. Paszek made a quick recovery and stung two straight serve breaks to take the first set at
6-4, getting one up in the contest.
The competition got more intense in the following set and both players dragged the contest in to a tie breaker round after an exchange of two serve breaks each. Paszek took hold of the decider to finish off the matchup at 7-6(5),
getting a chance to play against Marina Erakovic of New Zealand in the semi-finals of the Bell Challenge.
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