Can Lara Arruabarrena go deep at Istanbul since bouncing out two opponents?
She came on aggressive and dictated her shots across the net to her Spaniard comrade Carla Suarez-Navarro. Lara Arruabarrena ranked no. 117 didn't look at her numbered ranking hwne she entered the court to play her friend. She was clearly there to win. The game plan she used was usual textbook style but it worked in her favor against Suarez-Navarro who was seeded no. 1 in the tournament. Arruabarrena would win most of the cross court rallies and would clip the lines on either side. There was very little she couldn't do and led quickly to a 4 to 1. It was during the Spanish Hopman Cup a few years ago, Arruabarrena had mentioned about playing style. She was opposite Daria Gavrilova and said "Dasha is a good player, and a tricky player, so I'm very happy tohave won this match." There was no trickiness about Suarez-Navarro's game and being friends it was easy to predict her strategies. When the break came, both players wernt to their seat. Lara sat relaxed with a towel on her lap but Suarez-Navarro looked tense and worried as she was lost in tactics on how to defeat Arruabarrena. She had hammered a backhand blast to her and she couldn't deal with it and her return sailed in the net. Suarez-Navarro's consistency should have kicked in to gain more games, but it didn't. Arruabarrena had control of the match much of the time, winning the first set 6-4.Suarez-Navarro tried to correct her mistakes in the second set but it was to no avail. She did come on aggressive and started dictating the shots. She even had gotten the best of Arruabarrena in a few more games but it was her Spanish comrade that had the upper hand and won without compromise 6-4, 7-5.
Being friends with Suarez-Navarro helped Arruabarrena to win the match, but will she have the spirit and strategies to win round after round in Istanbul? The Spaniard's next match was with Sweden's Rebecca Peterson. The last tournament, Copa Colsanitas, Arruabarrena did go deep into the semifinal round with Australia's Astra Sharma defeating her. The last previous tournaments she hadn't such luck and lost most at the opening rounds. But judging by how she played against Suarez-Navarro at Istanbul, Lara Arruabarrena had a good chance of going through the Istanbul Open and possibly landng up in the final. She's known as being a challenge on clay despite her no. 117 ranking. She started her second round with Peterson having much self-assurance and confidence. The court distraction was the part sun-shade factor, but it didn't seem to make a difference to the Spaniard. She remained a break ahead doing well on rallies and being gifted by a few unforced errors from Peterson. The Spaniard went up 5-3 hitting down-the-lines and an easy cross court volley contributed to her success. The Swede's attempt at even a sliced volley landed in the net giving Arruabarrena the set at 6-3.
The second set Peterson presented a bit more challenge and led 2 games to 1, but it wasn't long before the score fell in the Spaniard's favor as the Swede double faulted on the break point. It was from there that the ball was falling very well for Arruabarrena and with another double fault by the Swede, gave the match to the Spaniard. Lara Arruabarrena now moves to the third round in Istanbul, gathering up consistency and mental toughness to make her move deep and perhaps win her third title of her career.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2DtBqC3
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