Timea Babos stuns Kimiko Date-Krumm in the opening round – e-Boks Open 2012
An enthralling battle was seen in the opening match of the e-Boks Open on Monday, with the 18-year-old tennis prodigy from Hungary, Timea Babos, taking down the Japanese veteran, Kimiko Date-Krumm. The three-setter lasted for two
hours and 17 minutes, with the Babos making an epic comeback to turn the tables on the 41-year-old Japanese. The final score line was 1-6, 7-6(4), 7-5, in favour of the 67th ranked Hungarian.
Babos was completely down and under in the opening set, losing it with a breadstick and it appeared as if Date-Krumm will conclude a comprehensive straight sets victory in the following set. Tide turned in the next set when the
18-year-old stunned her experienced opponent in the tie-breaker round to level the set score at one-all. She continued with her impetus in the decisive set and closed it out in the last moments to be declared as the deserving winner.
These two competitors faced each other in Quanzhou, China, earlier this season and Date-Krumm crushed the Hungarian teenager in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3. The Japanese took off the Monday’s combat in the similar fashion and raced
through the opening games to stamp her authority early in the contest. Despite winning the opener in an assertive manner, Date-Krumm could not hold on to her momentum in the next two sets and fell to the talented young opponent in the end.
"Today was a tough match and a really big win for me," said Babos, "I lost to Kimiko in January. She started off great in the first set today, so I really had to fight hard to get back in the match. I also started to vary my shots
a bit more, changing the pace and spins to get her moving, which I managed to do in the second and third sets. There were lots of ups and downs during the match, but luckily I came out on top and I am happy to even our head to head at one match all!"
Babos will face the winner of the opening round match between the fifth seed Kaia Kanepi of Estonia and Anastasia Rodionova of Australia, in the second round of the tournament later this week.
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