Yvonne Meusburger stuns Petra Martic to enter Nurnberger Gastein Ladies’ round two – Tennis Special
Crowd favourite, Yvonne Meusburger, got the better of the fifth seed, Petra Martic of Croatia, in a tipsy-turvy rain-delayed match at the Nurnberger Gastein Ladies 2012 on Tuesday. She nudged up a 6-1, 4-6, 7-6(5) victory against the world number 42 to power
into the second round at this WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) clay court tournament held in Austria.
The underdog showed brilliant tennis to outsmart the seeded Croat in their second duel with each other. After earning this success, the Austrian not only avenged her loss at the Zagreb WTA event four years ago but also levelled the head-to-head series by
1-1 against Martic.
"I won the first set, and then we had a rain delay, came back and I lost the second set," Meusburger stated in a post-match press conference. "But I focused on my game and tried to fight and I think that helped me a lot at the end. My family is not with
me that often, so I really enjoy playing here in Austria. If it wouldn't rain so much, it would actually be perfect!"
Meusburger thundered into this WTA international tournament and went on a five-game killing spree with three breaks of serve. Despite losing her serve in the sixth game, the Austrian cashed in her fourth break opportunity and pulled out the opener with a
breadstick.
The match was interrupted after that and Meusburger stepped off steam.
The 21-year-old re-structured in the following set and held her opening serve to level the scores at 1-1. Martic continued displaying impressive skills and held remaining serves until she got the critical break in the seventh game, subsequently putting her
nose ahead. Apart from losing her edge in the very next game, the Croat capitalised on another break chance in the ninth game and sealed the equaliser by winning six games to four.
Ranked 138th in the WTA Premier Rankings, Meusburger suffered the first blow in the final set and trailed at 0-1. Despite recovering in the very next game, she lost her serve twice and went 2-5 down. She was facing triple match points in the eighth
game but turned the tables on Martic after that. The Austrian not only snatched her break back but also recovered in the 10th game, eventually dragging the set to the tie-breaker. She edged past the Croat in it and clicked the decider with a 7-6(5)
win.
Next challenge for Meusburger is the Bulgarian qualifier, Dia Evtimova, who bounced back to overpower the local wildcard entrant, Barbara Haas, in three sets to set up this battle.
The qualifier dusted away four out of 12 breakpoints she came across and capitalised on 11 out of 24 break opportunities to formulate a 5-7, 6-1, 6-3 success. She also took advantage of 11 double faults the local starlet committed and required one hour and
50 minutes to earn the glory.
Meusburger needs to stay focus all the time in order to triumph over the Bulgarian qualifier.
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