by Maltese Francesca Curmi mounted a complete comeback to emerge victorious against eleventh seed and WTA no. 249 Macedonian Lina Gjorcheska in three sets. The victory takes Curmi into the round of 16 in the W60 tournament in Liepaja, Latvia.
Early Break Hands Gjorcheska Momentum
The eleven-time clay champion Gjorcheska hit the ground running with a solid opening hold, before mounting an early break on Curmi’s serve. Though she faced two breakpoints in her next service game, she won the deuce to claim another hold, thus opening a 3-0 score.
Curmi arrested the Macedonian’s momentum in the next game by securing her first hold without facing break point and thus getting herself on the scoreboard for the first time at 3-1. However, Gjorcheska followed suit with a comfortable hold before mounting another attack on Curmi’s serve. Gjorcheska forced a deuce before taking the decisive consecutive points to secure her second break. At 5-1, she made no mistake in her service game, taking the game to love and thus securing a set in hand 6-1.
Curmi’s Comeback
The Maltese opened the second set on serve, with the Macedonian breathing down her neck. Curmi was threatened by a break point before forcing a deuce. Though Gjorcheska earned the advantage, she could not manage the break. Ultimately, Curmi came through with two decisive points to secure an all-important opening hold.
The next two service games were held relatively comfortably by both players, thus handing Curmi a 2-1 lead, before she managed to secure the break on Gjorcheska’s serve. The Maltese opened with two points on the board, and though the Macedonian drew level at 30-30, two double faults handed the break and a lifeline to the Maltese who now nudged forward 3-1.
However, Gjorcheska broke straight back in the next service game at the first sniff of a break point. Though Curmi attempted to break straight back, the Macedonian forced a deuce before closing the door on the break and in doing so evened the score, 3-3. She then nudged in front for the first time in the set (3-4) by securing a break on Curmi’s serve in another lengthy game.
Despite this, the Maltese exchanged blows in the next game and made the most of two double faults by the Macedonian to pile pressure, before earning the point to secure another break that levelled the score 4-4. Curmi then delivered a perfect service game, holding to love and once again nudged forward, 5-4. The Maltese seemed in no mood to have to play to seven games, as she opened two breakpoints at 15-40. Though Gjorcheska cancelled one, the Curmi stuck the next to wrap the set in her favour 6-4 and force a deciding set.
The Decider
The Maltese used all the momentum to hit the ground running in the deciding set. A double break saw her open a 4-0 margin on the board. However, the Macedonian showed her champion mentality by mirroring Curmi’s feat, thus evening the score 4-4, before breaking Curmi’s serve to nudge forward 5-4 for the first time.
The Macedonian held all the cards in her hand as she served for the match, but the Maltese had other ideas. Instead, Curmi forced yet another swing in the pendulum, breaking to love to even things at 5-5 and extending the set. With momentum on her side, Curmi secured a hold without facing breakpoint to nudge forward 6-5, before breaking to love to take the match.
Key Points & Next Match
It was a match which many would have predicted in Lina Gjorcheska’s favour based on the rankings of the two players, where Curmi is ranked 341 whereas Gjorcheska comes in at 249. However, ten double faults marred the Macedonian’s game, in contrast to Curmi whose percentage of both first and second serves-in exceeded 80%.
The victory takes Francesca Curmi into the round of sixteen where she faces an even tougher challenge in Czech Republic’s Lucie Havlickova. She is the seventh seed in the tournament and is ranked 205 in the WTA rankings. At eighteen years old she brings plenty of ambition, having already won the W60 title in Trnava but on the hard surface.
