by Francesca Curmi won her encounter against Claudia Hoste Ferrer in straight sets, 6-1, 6-2. The victory takes her into the round of sixteen in Perigueux, where she will face Norwegian Malene Helgo.
Pressure from the Start
The match started in a rather even manner. Curmi opened the match on serve and though Hoste Ferrer drew first blood on points, the Maltese raced back to force a deuce before securing the hold. The Spaniard also got herself on the scoreboard, before attempting a break in Curmi’s next service game. Though lengthy, Curmi soaked up the pressure and following multiple deuces secured the hold to nudge in front 2-1.
Having survived the attack, Curmi launched one of her own, and at 30-40 up, she let pressure do the rest as Hoste Ferrer double-faulted to hand the break. Despite this, Hoste Ferrer was not going to let up easily and opened up a 15-40 lead in the next match, thus eyeing two break points. However, she could not convert, with Curmi instead taking charge to force a deuce before decisively securing the hold with the next two points and thus extending the lead to 1-4.
Having done so much and gotten so little return, Hoste Ferrer struggled in the next service game, where a double fault handed two break points to Curmi. The Maltese only needed one to bury the game in her favour, before serving out the set in style with an ace on the board, in just under forty minutes.
Triple Breaks Give Way to Dominance in the Second Set
The two players sized each other up and got the better of each other’s serve in the first three games of the set. The Spaniard opened on serve with the determination to stay in the game, but despite this, fell to a break immediately. Although she took the first point, Curmi rallied back to shift momentum in her favour before eyeing two break points. She converted the break at the first time of asking.
Once again, the Hoste Ferrer showed great determination in the next game and finally broke Curmi’s serve straight back to even the score 1-1. However, she could not make it stick as Curmi broke back once again to stay in the lead (2-1), before finally sticking the first hold of the second set to make the break stick at 3-1.
The matches that followed were heavily contested, but the Maltese was the most ruthless in the decisive points. She secured a double break in the next game, before holding serve to get to within one game from the match at 5-1. The pressure was on Hoste Ferrer to hold serve, which she did by securing four points in a row and thus reducing the deficit to 5-2. It was then up to Curmi to serve out the match, which she did by racing to a 40-15 lead, claiming the comfort of two match points. Though Hoste Ferrer erased one, Curmi landed the next to take the match in straight sets 6-1, 6-2.
Key Points and Next Encounter
Reflecting on the statistics against the outcome of the match, the first serve percentage hurt Hoste Ferrer who just managed to get 58% of serves in, in comparison to Curmi’s 80%. Furthermore, the Maltese was ruthless in the face of breakpoints, converting all five opportunities whereas the Spaniard managed to convert just one of four chances.
The victory takes Francesca Curmi into the round of sixteen where she will face Norwegian Malene Helgo. The latter secured her ticket into the match by beating Swiss Alina Granwehr, 6-2, 6-4.
Helgo and Curmi have never met on court, but one expects an evenly matched contest with the two rather neck and neck in the WTA rankings. Curmi sits at 336, whereas Helgo is listed at 396.
