Sixth seed Loit beaten by Czink
Oct 5th, 2005

Hungarian Melinda Czink knocked out sixth seed Emilie Loit of France in a hard-hitting match at the Tashkent Open today. Czink won the battle of the left-handers 7-5, 6-0.

The two other seeds in the day's action won through to the second round. Italy's No 3 Antonella Serra Zanetti defeated Ukraine's Mariya Koryttseva 6-2, 6-4 while No 5 Michaella Krajicek downed Czech Hana Sromova 6-3, 1-6, 6-1.

Czink, who turns 24 later this month, had her nose ahead right through a tough-fought first set in which the players traded breaks twice before Czink got the decisive break in the 12 th game.

Loit, ranked 18 spots ahead of Czink at 92, was always playing catch up after dropping her opening service game. She did well to get back to 5-all but Czink's relentless pounding took its toll and she had nothing left in the tank in the second set.

“It was tough,” said the 26-year-old Loit who was playing her first match after a three-week injury layoff. “I wasn't playing my best tennis.

“This surface is very fast, I prefer slower courts,” added Loit, who has twice beaten Czink this year, on clay.

The impassive Czink appeared rattled only once, when Loit caught up at 5-all but said later: “I was playing my game and I knew that if I play my game, I would beat her.

“I broke her mentally after the first set and after that it was just keeping the pressure on her.”

Czink next plays wildcard Evgeniya Rodina. The 16-year-old Russian sprang a surprise by knocking out compatriot Tatiana Panova 6-2, 6-4.

Panova, 29 and ranked 106 to Rodina's 474, wasn't at her best but she was clearly surprised by her young opponent's ability to stay the pace. And Rodina ended it in just an hour by serving out the match to love.

Krajicek impressed with her all-round game as she beat Sromova, ranked just 16 places below her. Her win would have been more impressive had she not lapsed in concentration in the second set, serving three double faults, and mishitting her forehands.

Credit though must go to the 27-year-old Sromova too. She ran down a lot of balls and had enough guile to entrap her 16-year-old opponent with drop shots and lobs.

The effort told on her and when she called for the tournament referee at 1-1 in the final set to complain against a couple of bad calls, the signs of the end were already there.

Krajicek just went from strength to strength, breaking her twice, and finished the match serving powerfully, with three aces.

Krajicek explained her second set collapse later: “She (Sromova) played much better in the second than in the first and third sets. Also I kept making a lot of mistakes. And I kept waiting for her to make mistakes instead of going for winners.”

The only time Koryttseva looked like stopping Serra Zanetti was when she took an injury timeout just before the Italian was to serve for the match. She then won the first two points but Serra Zanetti, a quarter-finalist here last year, didn't concede another.

Serra Zanetti now plays Iroda Tulyaganova in the next round. She had beaten the Uzbekistan champion at the same stage last year and when asked, replied that she hoped it would be a good match for her this year also.

For more results, Click here