Yanina Wickmayer tops Patricia Mayr-Achleitner to enter quarters – Nurnberger Gastein Ladies 2012
Second seeded Yanina Wickmayer tumbled the last year’s runner-up, Patricia Mayr-Achleitner, in straight sets at the Nurnberger Gastein Ladies 2012 on Thursday. She clobbered a 7-6(4), 6-3 victory against the local starlet to book a spot in the final eight
at this red clay court tournament taking place in Bad Gastein, Austria.
The Belgian wildcard entrant, Wickmayer, overpowered Mayr-Achleitner after warding off early resistance in their second encounter. She not only avenged her loss at the Fes WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) event earlier this circuit but also levelled the
head-to-head series by 1-1 against the world number 97.
Wickmayer made a poor entry at this WTA International tournament and suffered the first blow in the second game to fall at 0-3. However, she stayed calm and not only recovered in the fifth game but held remaining serves to drag the set to a tie-breaker.
The Belgian cruised to a 4-0 lead in it before pulling out the opener with a 7-6(4) score line.
Ranked 37th in the WTA Premier Rankings, Wickmayer improved her game in the following set. She hammered powerful forehands and blocked all four breakpoints she faced, eventually swiping her entire serves with conviction. The Belgian got the breakthrough
in the eighth game and sealed the set by winning six games to three.
All in all, the 22-year-old spilled nine double faults and clobbered a lower first serve share of 63 per cent as compared to her rival’s 70 per cent. However, she superbly dusted away nine out of 10 breakpoints she came across and cashed in two out of eight
break chances to rule the match in two hours and 16 minutes.
Next up for Wickmayer, the highest ranked player left in the tournament, is the local contestant, Yvonne Meusburger. Meusburger trashed the Bulgarian qualifier, Dia Evtimova, in straight sets to set up this battle.
The seventh seed, Alize Cornet, tumbled Australia’s Sacha Jones in straight sets to earn the limelight later that day. The Frenchwoman was broken once but capitalised on four out of 11 break opportunities to manipulate a 6-3, 6-2 score line in one hour and
36 minutes.
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