Yvonne Meusburger knocks off Sybille Bammer to reach the quarterfinal – Gastein Ladies 2011
Austrian Yvonne Meusburger slew her country’s former number one, Sybille Bammer with a breadstick to advance into the quarter-finals of the NURNBERGER Gastein Ladies 2011, an International level WTA Premier event held on the clay
courts in Bad Gastein, Austria. She registered a 6-2, 6-1 victory over the 31-year-old Bammer in front of their home crowd on Thursday.
27-year-old Meusburger took sixty-two minutes to down her countrywoman, Bammer – who was player last career tournament, for the first time in their third and the last meeting. She lowered the trail in the head-to-head series by
1-2 against Bammer and secured a last eight spot in this tournament.
Ranked 130th in the Sony Ericsson WTA Premier rankings, Meusburger made a shaky start of the match as she lost her opening serve in the first game. She, however, roared back with a fitting reply by breaking the world
number 148, Bammer’s serve in the proceeding game to level the scores by 1-1. The younger Austrian then held on to her remaining serves and broke her rival’s serve in the sixth and the eighth game again to clinch the set with a 6-2 win.
She improved her winning ways into the final set and after Bammer held her opening serve in the second game, she unleashed massive forehands and backhands to reel off next five games in a row. She saved both breakpoints faced and
capitalised on both breakpoint chances to her advantage to earn this breadstick in under half hour.
Overall, Meusburger committed more double faults but clobbered a higher first serve share of 81 percent as compared to Bammer’s 41 percent. She also registered an impressive 65 percent win on it and produced a convincing 61 percent
on returns.
"I really love this tournament. The organization is unbelievable and they give the players all they can," Meusburger commented. "The crowd is amazing and I practice in altitude like this a lot so I play well in these conditions."
Meusburger commented on Bammer and her last match, "I think she's a great person. She did an unbelievable job her whole career. She was so successful and I'm very proud we had a No.1 like Sybille. I wish her all the best and I
hope she has a great life after tennis."
Up next for the winning Austrian is Spaniard Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez who trashed Czech Sandra Zahlavova in straight sets to reach this spot. 28-year-old Sanchez saved one out of two breakpoints conceded and converted four out
of seven breakpoint opportunities to her advantage to seal the match with a 6-4, 6-2 score line in one and half hour.
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