US Open 2010: Mirjana Lucic wins the opener after eleven years
There was a time when Mirjana Lucic was one of the prominent names in the game of tennis. The Croatian professional tennis player won her first WTA tournament back in 1997 at fifteen years of age. The following year, the right-handed Lucic successfully defended her title and registered her name as the youngest player to do so on the tour. A year later, the Florida resident made her way into the semi-final round of the grass court Grand Slam tournament.
However afterwards, a series of some back-to-back injuries badly affected her game. The Croatian is now once again back in action with a opening round victory of the 2010 United States Open tennis tournament after hammering down her Australian opponent Alicia Molik in a total of two sets on Tuesday. The final match score was 7-6 (5), 6-1. The 28-year-old Lucic won the first round match of the final Grand Slam event on the very first occasion after a period of eleven years at the Flushing Meadows.
Lucic, while commenting on her yesterday’s performance said, “I am glad that I won today’s battle in New York. I know that there is still a lot of tennis left in me and I can play really good matches no matter what the world says about me and my game. I can produce some really good results and that is what is actually pushing me and motivating me to keep on working hard.”
Currently ranked number 150 in the world by the WTA, Lucic made her way into the main draw of the United States Open tennis tournament after getting through in the qualifying matches a week ago at the Flushing Meadows in New York.
“I worked extremely hard to be here. This is my very first United States Open appearance after a long time and so I am really glad with my performance at the moment,” said Lucic on Tuesday.
As a result of this victory, Mirjana Lucic will play her next round match against the fourth seeded tennis star from the women’s side, Jelena Jankovic, who was also a finalist at the United States Open tennis tournament back in 2008.
“I know Lucic quite well. We have friendly terms in the locker rooms, and she is a really nice women. I am totally aware of the fact that she has been playing well over the last few months which is great for her,” said Jelena who narrowly won her yesterday’s match against her Romanian tennis opponent, Simona Halep in a total of three sets. The final match score was 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.
Whatever may happen versus Jelena, the Croatian professional tennis player already feels great about what she has achieved on this tour at the Flushing Meadows. And why shouldn’t she, considering the fact where she has been?
“It is actually quite unbelievable, winning every match I play. It’s like winning a championship for me,” said Lucic after the match.
In another action on Tuesday, the eight-seeded Chinese, Li Na lost her opening round clash at the hands of Kateryna Bondarenko from Ukraine in a total of three sets. The final match score was 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.
Li is the first-seeded player from the top ten list who couldn’t reach the second round of the United States Open tennis tournament. She had previously made her way at least into the fourth round in each of her last three appearances at the Flushing Meadows and was also a semi-finalist at the hard court Australian Open tennis tournament during the month of January.
In sixteen previous Grand Slam championships, Bondarenko on the other hand, has surpassed the third round just on a single occasion when she made it into the quarters at the United States Open tennis tournament back in 2009.
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