Yulia Putintseva defeats Marcela Zacarias in Girls’ Singles 1st round – US Open 2011
Russian Yulia Putintseva over threw Mexican Marcela Zacarias in the opening round match of the girls’ singles draw at the US Open 2011. Both players duelled on hard courts of USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows. Putintseva won the match by bouncing back from a set down to secure a 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 victory in 2 hours.
The players were meeting for the first time and were unfamiliar with each other’s style and skill. Opening the first round was the Russian. Unable to win on her serve she was broken in the first game by Zacarias, who then went on to winning on her serve and took a 2-0 lead. In the next six games both the players won on alternate serves and at this point the score board read as 5-3. It was Putintseva’s serve, while, the Mexican was looking to bag a game and serve the first set. As the Russian served, Zacarias took the opportunity to break her adversary for the last time and bagged the initial set.
Although, the Russian was a stronger player, she did not have a strong defence and was unable to ward off the Mexican. On the contrary, Zacarias had committed zero unforced errors, a geometric precision and was able to avail most of the break point opportunities. She did not setup a break point opportunity for the Russian and hence, won the set with a 6-3 score.
During the second set, Zacarias was first to serve. In the first three games she took the lead with a 3-0 by breaking her opponent in the second game and by winning on her serves. Putintseva was not ready to throw in the towel, jumping back into the game; she managed to win on her serve and went on to breaking her Mexican adversary in the fifth. By the sixth game, seeded 6 Putintseva evened the score to 3-3 and in the seventh she broke the Russian for the last time to take a lead at 4-3. She then went on t o securing her lead in the eighth game by holding her serve. Although, Zacarias had won on her serve in the ninth game, by the tenth Putintseva was serving for the set. The score could’ve gone either way if the Russian’s defence hadn’t strengthened but fortunately for the Russian she held her serve and bagged her first set victory.
By the end of the second set, both the players had bagged a set apiece each and were looking to stay in the tournament. Fortunately for Putintseva, she was performing much better than the first set, by minimizing her unforced errors and strengthening her defence.
Opening the concluding set was Zacarias, but in a reversal of fate Zacarias was broken in the first game. The sixth seed then broke her rival in the third and held her serve in fourth to secure a 4-0 lead. In the following four games both players won on alternate serves but it was a little too late for Zacarias to start catching up and fortunately for Putintseva she held her serve in the last game to serve the match at 6-2.
A runner up here last year, Putintseva saw an easy victory against the un-seeded Marcela Zacarias and was able to secure a berth in the second round where she will play local wildcard entrant, Samantha Crawford.
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