Watson/Woerle dump Krajicek/Safarova to reach the semis – Bell Challenge 2011
Another seeded duo crashed out of the Bell Challenge doubles, as the third seeded pair of Michaella Krajicek of Netherlands and Lucie Safarova of Czech Republic lost their quarter-final matchup to the unseeded duo of Heather Watson of the Great Britain and Kathrin Woerle of Germany, on Thursday night.
The contest was staged on the indoor hard courts of Quebec, Canada, with a shocking result for the local crowd. Watson and Woerle wrapped up their surprise victory at 6-3, 7-6(3), taking one hour and twenty three minutes of play to book a semi-final berth in the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) event.
The third seeded duo had a hard-fought three-set victory in the opening round but failed to handle the pressure this time around, losing in straight sets. Krajicek and Safarova crafted 15 break opportunities in the matchup and cashed in just two of them, squandering 13 break points to finish on the losing side in the end.
Watson and Woerle took the upper hand early in the game by pocketing the opener in an assertive manner but had to work their way through the next set to outplay the third seeded pair eventually. They converted three of their nine break chances and clinched 33 out of 53 first serve points en route to victory.
The unseeded duo drew first blood in the second game of the match, breaking Krajicek and Safarova to lead 3-0 early. Watson and Woerle kept playing aggressive tennis in the match and kept holding their serve in all the game to keep the upper hand in the contest. Krajicek and Safarova failed to recover from the early damage done by the serve break and eventually dropped the first set at 3-6 to fall on the back foot.
More intense tennis was witnessed in the following set, with both pairs trading two serve breaks each to keep moving on even terms. A tie breaker was enforced at 6-6 but Krajicek and Safarova again crumbled in the decider to let Watson and Woerle away with victory at 7-6(3). Watson and Woerle will take on top seeded American duo of Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears in the semi-final clash on Friday.
Tags: