XIX Copa BBVA Colsanitas: Suarez Navarro, Castano clear 2nd round
Carla Suarez Navarro defeats Patricia Mayr-Achleitner 1-6, 6-4, 6-2
Fifth seed Carla Suarez Navarro managed to defeat Austrian tennis pro Patricia Mayr-Achleitner from a set down at the second round of the 2011 XIX Copa BBVA Colsanitas tournament in Columbia. The 22-year-old player took a little over two hours to defeat
Mayr-Achleitner, who is currently World Number 103.
Although the two players are almost forty spots apart on the Women’s Tennis Association [WTA] rankings, Mayr-Achleitner came into the match with her guns blazing; she managed to take the first set in just seven games, conceding only one to her opponent.
The 24-year-old managed to convert three of four break points, and she also won 70 percent of her first serve points. In addition to this, she won an impressive 63 percent of the total points in the set.
In the second set, Suarez Navarro seemed to make a recovery. Although it was still difficult for her, she managed to level the playing field by winning the second set 6-4. Suarez Navarro saved one break point and converted three of five break points against
Mayr-Achleitner successfully. She also won 56 percent of the total points in the set. The match eventually went into a tie-breaker, which was again an easy win for Suarez Navarro. Currently World Number 65, the right-handed player took complete control of
the second set by converting one-third of her break points and saving half of the ones set up against her. She also won a satisfactory 62 percent of the total points in the third set. Mayr-Achleitner, who could have won the match in straight sets, was instead
defeated by Suarez Navarro 6-1, 4-6, 6-2.
Carla Suarez Navarro will now face either first seed Julia Goerges of Germany, or Chinese pro Xinyun Han. This is the first time the Spanish player has made it to the quarterfinals of a WTA tournament in almost a year.
Catalina Castano defeats Sharon Fichman 4-6, 7-5, 2-6
Local wild card Catalina Castano took over two hours and forty minutes to defeat Canadian qualifier Sharon Fichman in a gruelling match. The Columbian player defeated her 20-year-old opponent in three sets 4-6, 7-5, 2-6.
Castano, who is ranked World Number 200, recovered from a set down to score her fourth victory of the year. The 30-year-old turned pro in 1998, and has not yet won a WTA title. She defeated her Canadian opponent by winning 105 of the 208 points in the match;
in addition to this, she converted nine of fourteen break points and saved eight of fifteen on her own.
The player seemed ecstatic at the chance to win matches in her home country, saying, “It is so good to play in my country and it is amazing to have people around supporting me. We don't have so many events in Colombia and I am so happy for this opportunity."
Castano will now be facing French player Mathilde Johansson in the quarterfinals at Bogota, after Johansson put paid to Yvonne Meusburger in straight sets 6-4, 6-0.
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