Top seeds fall at the Hungarian Grand Prix 2013 – Tennis News
Big names suffered shocking opening round exits at the Hungarian Grand Prix 2013 on Tuesday.
The top seeded Czech, Lucie Safarova, displayed drastic performance on the Budapest clay courts. She suffered a brutal 1-6, 0-6 defeat at the hands of the Russian starlet, Valeria Solovieva.
"I'm very excited," the beaming Russian was quoted in a courtside interview after stealing the limelight. "I came out and fought for every point and used the tactics I've been working on with my coach, and it worked out. I'm so
happy to get through against such a tough player like Safarova."
With two breaks of serves, Solovieva cruised to a 5-0 lead before the Czech could come on the score board. The Russian held her serve again and bagged the opener with a breadstick.
Ranked 29th in the WTA Premier Rankings, Safarova failed to seek her rhythm in the following set. She lost her serve three times and subsequently lost the set with a bagel.
Summing up the 26-year-old’s performance, Safarova clobbered lower first serve share of 63 per cent in contrast with the Russian’s 66 per cent and only availed 7 out of 20 points on it. She squandered all of her nine break chances
and saved only five out 10 breakpoints she came across.
Solovieva will square off against the Montenegrin contestant, Danka Kovinic, in the second round. Kovinic rallied past United Kingdom’s Johanna Konta in a three-set thriller to set-up this match.
Seeded second in this event, Alize Cornet, suffered similar fate. She was edged out by Czech Republic’s Andrea Hlavackova with a 4-6, 2-6 score line later that day.
The high flying Czech commented in a post match presser, "I'm feeling great. I tried to play with nothing to lose and to enjoy it. I was playing my game, which is trying to stay aggressive regardless of the score. I worked on a
couple things since Wimbledon and they started to show up on the court, especially mentally, so I'm very happy they worked and I'm going to keep on continuing with that."
The seeded French managed to recover in the opening set and drew the first blood in the second set. However, Hlavackova lifted her game as well and eventually became victorious.
With this victory, the world number 110 not only avenged her loss at the Grand Prix De SAR La Princesse Lalla Meryem in Fes two years ago but also levelled the head-to-head series by 1-1 against Cornet.
Next in line for Hlavackova is the Romanian star, Alexandra Cadantu, who slaughtered Austria’s Patricia Mayr-Achleitner with a bagel to progress.
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