Guangzhou: Martic, Rezai Speed Through
Martic reaches second term
Fourth seed Petra Martic has made an easy progress at the Chinese event when the Croatian ousted Taipei’s Kai Chen Chang 6-4, 6-4 to play the winner between Shengan Sun and Zarina Diyas in the second term.
Martic, who chases her first title of the season in China, broke her opponent twice in the opener and only conceded one service, needing just over half an hour to take the first lead. The second set looked the same for the two players as they exchanged three break points, two of which taken by the same Croatian who managed to go two games atop of her opponent.
She won the meeting in one hour and 23 minutes and will next meet either Shengan Sun or Zarina Diyas. Martic finished the game with a 67 first serve percentage, four aces, five double faults and a 47 return percentage, winning at the same time 60 percent of service points.
On the other side, the Taipei player came up with a 71 first serve percentage, a 40 receiving one and a 53 service percentage. Chang also hit three aces and committed four double faults, packing form the event very early.
“It was a very tough match today. She played very well, very aggressive. I tried to mix up the rhythm, go for my shots, dictate play, and it worked out well,” said the world number 55 Martic at the end of the game.
Aravane Rezai has also advanced into the second term after defeating Shuai Zhang of China. The French had a strong start, managing to set a four game lead which helped her to go one set atop in just over half an hour. Zhang threatened with a leveler in the second set when she pushed the term into the breaker.
Unfortunately for the crowd favorite, Shuai, who also suffered an early exit last week, lost the tie break at two, conceding the victory in one hour and a half. Rezai broke her opponent three times in the opener and one more time in the second set when she also lost a service.
An impressive late comeback saw her leave Shuai five mini breaks adrift to book a second term berth in Guangzhou. Rezai impressed with a 61 first serve percentage, a 48 return one and four conversions out of 11 break point chances.
She also hit a couple of aces and committed five double faults, compared to her opponent who came up with a 62 first serve percentage, a 37 return one, three double faults, an ace and a 52 service percentage. The head to head series between the two is still led by the world number 106 Rezai who has defeated the 123rd-ranked three times, the previous occasion at this term’s Indian Wells.
Urszula Radwanksa has also made a two set progress at the Chinese event when the Polish player ousted Anastasia Rodionova 7-6, 6-4 in the opener. Radwanska, who follows an impressive showing at the Tashkent event, had a difficult start, being forced to take the first lead after a tough tie break which saw the Aussie win five mini breaks before conceding the term by two points.
As for the second set, it saw the two players exchange seven breaks, four of which taken by the same Polish who managed to set a two game advantage she eventually converted into a hard fought win. Radwanska needed two hours and a half to oust the stubborn Aussie whom she met for the second time.
Urszula finished the clash with a 62 first serve percentage, three double faults, an ace, a 54 return percentage and seven breaks, while her opponent came up with a 73 first serve percentage, a 49 return one, winning 46 percent of service points, as well.
Rodionova also converted 73 percent of first serve balls, hit two aces and committed a couple of double faults. Radwanska leads the head to head series 2-0 with the previous win coming from the 2009 Tokyo event.
On the second half of the draw, Jarmila Gajdosova eased past Xinyun Han of China 6-2, 6-1, needing just 54 minutes to make the progress. The Aussie provided an impressive showing, breaking her opponent three times in the opener and three more times in the second term.
Gajdosova’s showing included a 53 first serve percentage, a 60 return one and six break point conversions out of 12 tries. She also fired six aces past the crowd favorite against whom she committed a couple of double faults.
As for the host, Han won 58 percent of first serve balls, 31 of returning points and 40 of service ones, leaving the court with nine double faults, two aces and just a break point. Next up for the Aussie is either Yifan Xu of China or Mandy Minella from Luxemburg who are to meet on Tuesday.
Fifth favorite Bojana Jovanovski was ousted in the first term of the event when the Serb was tunned in three sets by Ukraine’s Tetiana Luzhanska who edged the seed 6-3, 4-6, 7-6. The Ukrainian needed two hours and 11 minutes to make the progress into the second term.
Luzhanska won the opener after breaking the Serb three times to announce a big result in front of one of the main favorites. Bojana leveled the score in the second set thanks to a couple of break point conversions. She also lost a service, but that did not stop her to set the pace and go two games atop of the Ukrainian.
Finally, the third set saw the two go head to head until the last game, pushing the round into a tight tie break, as well. The two broke each other twice but Javanovski was stunned by a three mini break lead in the breaker, something which propelled the Ukrainian through to a big win in Guangzou.
Luzhanska finished the game with a 63 first serve percentage, two aces, two double faults, including a 46 return percentage and a 59 service one. On the other side, the Serb won 65 percent of service points, 41 on return and committed three double faults.
The Ukraine player also converted six out of eight break points, conceding at the same time five services in front of the favorite who created herself nine break point chances overall. Luzhanksa is to meet qualifier Yi jing Zhao of China who stunned Japan’s Misaki Doi in two sets, 6-4, 6-3.
Zhao converted three break points only in the opener, but she dominated the entire meeting, sealing the victory in just over an hour. The second set saw her grab three more breaks and concede two services, something which helped her to secure a second term berth earlier than expected.
As for Doi, she could only convert a couple of break points per set, which proved to be insufficient for a win, though. She finished the clash with a 69 first serve percentage, three double faults, a 44 return percentage and a 41 service one, compared to her opponent’s 78 first serve percentage, an ace, a 59 return percentage and a 56 one.
Zhao converted six out of nine break points to provide one of the biggest surprises of the openers. On the same first half of the table, seventh seed Chanelle Scheepers edged Anastasija Sevastova of Latvia in three sets, 7-5, 1-6, 6-3.
The South African, who met the Latvian for the second time ever, needed exactly two hours to make the progress. Scheepers won the first set thanks to a late break which helped her to go two games atop and take the first lead. But the second set saw her concede a five game lead as well as three services as Sevastova was threatening with a consistent comeback.
On contrast with the second set, the third one showed the same Latvian both losing more pace as the game progressed and conceding three precious services which cost her the win. Scheeprs also conceded a service in the decider but managed to stay ahead of her opponent throughout the entire term.
The South African finished the game with a 66 first serve percentage, a 48 return one, winning at the same time 50 percent of service points. She also converted seven out of 15 break points and hit four aces. Latvian’s showing included three aces, four double faults, a 50 return percentage, a 52 service one and a 56 first serve percentage.
Sevastova converted the same number of breaks, but she couldn’t perpetuate the second term pace in the third one, losing the decider very easily. The head to head series between the two has now gone 1-1. Sevastova’s only win comes from the 2009 Wimbledon event.
French Iryna Bremond has also reached the second term in China after easing past Mariya Koryttseva 6-1, 6-3 in one hour and a half. Bremond dominated her opponent at all facets, winning the opener in just over half an hour thanks to a couple of break point conversions which brought her a five game lead.
The second set brought the French four more breaks but also saw Koryttseva fight harder to stay in the game. The Ukraine stole a couple of services and created six break point chances, but she unfortunately lost four precious service which could have helped her to push the meeting into a third se decider.
Mariya came up with a 61 first serve percentage, a 42 return one and a similar service percentage. She also committed ten double faults and hit zero aces, compared to the winner whose showing included a 42 first serve percentage, a 58 return and service ones and, two aces and ten double faults.
One of the biggest surprises of the day came when third favorite Ksenia Pervak abandoned the meeting against Yung Jan Chan early in the first set at 1-4 down. The Russian, who won last week’s Tashkent event went bad from the very beginning, conceding two services in the first games. She retired due to an injury, allowing the Taipei player to make an unexpected progress.
Thailand’s Noppawan Lerteewakarn beat Saisai Zheng in two sets 7-5, 6-0 in nearly two hours. Noppawan broke her opponent three times in the opener and managed to keep the sheet clean throughout the entire second term.
Overall, the Thailand player converted six out of ten break points, finishing the meeting also with a 56 first serve percentage, a 57 return one and a 56 service percentage. She hit two aces and committed two double faults, compared to her opponent’s 60 first serve percentage and 44 return one.
Zheng won 43 percent of service points and only converted a couple out of three break point chances, both in the first term. The head to head series between the two has now gone 2-0 to the world number 158 who previously defeated the 265th-ranked Zheng at this year’s Sanya event in China.
Qualifier Zarina Diyas made an easy progress when the Kazakhstan player crashed Sheng Nan Sun 6-1, 6-4. Diyas needed one hour and a half to oust the crowd favorite whom she broke five times in 12 tries. Sun converted two out of three break points but failed to take a lead during the meeting.
She came up with a 75 first serve percentage, a 36 return one and four double faults, compared to her opponent’s 69 first serve percentage, 53 return one and 64 service percentage.
Guangzhou Prize Money and points:
Winner – $37,000 and 280 points WTA
Runner up – $19,000 and 200 points WTA
Semi finalist – $10,200 and 130 points WTA
Quarter finalist – $5,340 and 70 points WTA
Second round – $2,950 and 30 points WTA
First round – $1,725 and one point WTA11
