Yurika Sema gets the better of Remi Tezuka in qualifying 1st round – Hansol Korea Open 2011
Fourth seeded Yurika Sema got the better of unseeded compatriot Remi Tezuka in the qualifying first round of the Hansol Korea Open on outdoor hard courts of the Olympic Tennis Courts in Seoul, South Korea on the 17th of September
2011. After just 1 hour and 50 minutes of the competition the number four seeder won in straight sets of 7-6(5), 6-2 victory.
Subsequently after winning the pitch, Tezuka was first to serve, but Sema was first to break and initiate the score board to 1-0. However, not wanting the elder Japanese (Tezuka) to take the lead the younger Sema broke back to
level the score at 1-1 in the very next game.
In the following nine games both the players kept winning on their serves and it was a blow for a blow. Eventually as Sema held his serve in the twelfth game, she pushed the set into a tie breaker.
The head-to-head run between the two lost the vapor in the tiebreaker. Despite being a seeded player, Sema had a tough time holding the 31 year-old (Tezuka) at bay.
Matching blow for blow, the two players kept the score tied for ten points with neither of the players giving up on their service games. However, a costly double fault from Tezuka gave Sema the mini-break she needed as she reeled
off two straight points to bag the tiebreaker at 7-5.
Opening the second set was Sema, and the pair won on their alternate serves in the first two games to balance the score at 1-1.
The two then broke each other back to back in the third and fourth game to square off the score at 2-2.
During the fifth game Sema held her serve by smashing a forehand down the line and in the sixth she broke her opponent for the second time and secured a lead of 4-2.
She was then able to almost stamp her victory in the seventh game as she smashed an ace at 40-love and held her serve. Finally she was able to break her opponent for the third time and won the set with a speedy 6-2 victory and
the match.
Although, Sema only smashed one ace, she was still capable of winning both the sets. By capitalizing on 3 out of 5 break point chances and with almost twice as many points as her opponent, she secured a place in the second qualifying
round.
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