Tamira Paszek struggles to victory against Varvara Lepchenko in second round – Bell Challenge 2011
World number 40, Tamira Paszek of Austria, went through some real tough times before she eventually took down the unseeded American opponent, Varvara Lepchenko, in the second round of the Bell Challenge at Quebec, Canada, on Wednesday
night.
It was a hard-fought victory for the third seeded Austrian, who settles the final scores at 6-7(2), 6-3, 7-6(4), after a nail-biting competition with Lepchenko to make a berth in the quarter-finals of the $220,000 WTA (Women’s
Tennis Association) tournament.
Paszek registered her 32nd victory of the running WTA season and the second one against Lepchenko to lead the head-to-head series 2-1 against her. The last time these two contestants faced each other was in 2009, with
Lepchenko registering a crushing straight sets victory over the Austrian in Madrid. Paszek toiled extremely hard for three hours of play to avenge her defeat from the American and moved into the final eight in the competition.
It was an evenly poised match between the two competitors, going on till the last minute to decide the winner of the contest. Both contestants took off the opening set steadily and took their time to get settled in the competition.
No serve breaks were seen from any of the players in the entire opener and the scores got dead locked at 6-6, enforcing a tie breaker round into play. The third seeded Austrian failed to secure sufficient points in the decider and succumbed to the American
opponent at 6-7(2).
Tide turned in the following set as Paszek came out firing at Lepchenko, breaking her serve in the second game to lead 3-0 in the set. Another cracking serve break in the ninth game closed out the second set in the favour of Paszek
at 6-3, bringing her right back in the game.
The final set witnessed a trade of two serve breaks each from the contestants to enforce another tie breaker round at 6-6. The third seeded Paszek kept focused in the intense pressure situation and bagged the final set at 7-6(4),
to enter the quarterfinal draws of the Bell Challenge to face the unseeded Briton, Heather Watson.
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