Yanina Wickmayer upsets Marion Bartoli in the quarter-final brawl – Bank of the West Classic 2012
Fifth seeded Belgian tennis ace, Yanina Wickmayer, pulled out an absolute stunner in the quarter-final battle of Bank of the West Classic tournament, as she overwhelmed the world number 10, Marion Bartoli of France, on Friday’s eve. The 37th ranked Belgian took 80 minutes to wrap up her comprehensive victory at 6-3, 6-2, to enter the final-four of the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) International Tour event.
Being the initial stop of the US Open Series, the competition was played on the hard courts of Stanford, USA, with the hot favourite second seed falling cheaply to the inferior-ranked opponent. Bartoli was leading 3-0 in the head-to-head series against Wickmayer prior to the Friday’s encounter and was rated as the hot favourite for sustaining her clean sheet against the Belgian. Wickmayer put up an all-round brilliant display of tennis to register the biggest upset of the tournament and curtail the deficit to 1-3 against the French powerhouse.
Bartoli was badly influenced by her error-ridden game play and kept spilling faults throughout the matchup. Her nine double faults proved extremely taxing for her and didn’t allow her to register more than two break points in the entire contest. The booming Belgian had a phenomenal serve game, banging in five aces and winning 22 out of 30 first serve points, coupled with six cracking breaks of serves, to come out as the surprise winner. She cashed in most of her chances and held the momentum until the end to earn a spot in the semi-finals of the tournament in style.
22-year-old Belgian and the 10th ranked French are yet to bag a WTA championship title this season but Bartoli’s exit has created an opening for Wickmayer to have a shot at the title. Wickmayer will face the other surprise candidate, the ‘lucky loser’ from the qualifying draw, Coco Vandeweghe, in the round of four at Bank of the West Classic tournament on Saturday. Vandeweghe stunned the fourth seed former world number one, Jelena Jankovic, in the second round and then went on to stun the Pole tennis prodigy, Urszula Radwanska, in twin sets, 6-4, 6-4, in the quarter-finals.
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