Tamira Paszek stoops to Bethanie Mattek-Sands in the opening round – Generali Ladies Linz 2012
An unexpected event was witnessed at the hard courts of Linz when the local superstar, Tamira Paszek, failed to beat the American qualifier, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, in the opening round of the Generali Ladies Linz. The 27th
ranked Austrian could only last an hour and 38 minutes before failing out in straight sets 2-6, 4-6 to a 27-year-old American who is ranked 201
in the world.
Sands commented on her victory, “We're good friends on the tour and it's always tough playing a friend, but I think we both played a great match. I felt good - coming from the qualifying I had those three matches on this surface.
She didn't give it to me though - I really had to win the match.”
The American qualifier held her serve and coupled it with a breakthrough to begin the encounter in emphatic fashion. She led the scores 5-2 before thumping her rival to another breakthrough that rounded off the opening set proceedings
in quick succession. It was a terrible beginning for the local superstar who left the crowd dejected.
Sands made no mistake in registering another cracking start to the second phase; held her serve and clasped a breakpoint to make it 2-0 upfront. However, the 21-year-old Austrian rallied back in the fifth game that helped her to
lower the trail. Paszek held her serve to equalize at 3-3 and hinted at a possible comeback. The tempo of the set was slowed down with four back-to-back serve holds that forced Paszek in a must serve hold game. She failed to handle the pressure and gifted
the victory to her rival.
Carla Suarez Navarro will be the next opponent for Bethanie Mattek-Sands.
Sands added about her next round rival, “Carla's a tricky player - most people think her best surface is clay courts, but she has done so well on hard-courts too. She takes the balls on the rise and has a lot of confidence right
now, so I have to go into the match aggressive, playing my game and really putting her under pressure.”
The match in scheduled to take place on Thursday.
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