Unseeded Misaki Doi ousts Mandy Minella in 1st Round – Tashkent Open 2011
The two un-seeded players to contest the main draw of the Tashkent Open 2011 were; Luxembourgish Mandy Minella and Japanese Misaki Doi. The two took up the gauntlet on indoor hard courts of the Olympic School Tennis Court in Tashkent.
Surviving a midsummer crisis was Doi with a 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 score in two hours and eleven minutes of play.
The last run between the two was at the French Open during the qualifying first round, where Doi had beaten Minella in straight sets of 6-2, 6-4. This was a chance given to Minella to avenge her loss but alas! She lost again and
was now two matches down in their head-to-head score.
Winning on their first meeting enabled Doi to serve with confidence and as she opened the score board to 1-0. As the two players kept on winning on their own serves in the first five games, in the sixth game Doi shifted to top
gear and broke her adversary to take a lead of 4-2. She then held her serve in the seventh game to an en-route victory of the opening set by breaking Minella in the eighth game.
Doi was very dominant in the first set and did not setup a single break point opportunity for her adversary to break her. Mean while, Minella was nervous and because of numerous unforced errors lost the set.
Subsequently after her loss, Minella jumped back and displayed a tremendous performance in the second set. Doi was to serve first and the two players were neck on neck, rallying for every point. Both the players held their serves
till the first five games but in the sixth game Doi was first to break to take the lead at 4-2. However, not wanting her adversary to secure her lead Minella broke back in the seventh game and in the eighth game balanced the score at 4-4. At such a crucial
stage in the set, the balance of scale could’ve tilted either way. However, Minella broke Doi in the ninth game and was now a break up. She was serving for the second set in the tenth game and eventually as she held her serve she bagged the second set.
As the two players had bagged a set each, they went into the third set; which was the determining set. Opening the third set was Doi and as the two held serve in the first two games in the third game Minella was first to break
, she then went on to holding her serve in the fourth game and in the fifth again broke Doi to secure a lead if 4-1. The first five games were dominated by Minella, only two games towards the final victory but Doi was not ready to throw the gauntlet and broke
back in the sixth game and in the seventh held her serve. By the eigth game she again broke her adversary Minella, to even out the score at 4-4. What a comeback from Doi as she then held her serve in the ninth game she was one game up and by the tenth game
she was looking to break and serve the match. Surprisingly it was Doi’s day as she slammed a couple of winners to steal the game from Minella and won the match.
The Japanese managed to secure a second round berth where she will be facing number three seed Pauline Parmentier or Greek Eleni Daniilidou.
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