05/11/2012        2012 Final World Olympic Qualification Tournament

The heat is on in Doha.

Outside the temperature soars in the desert heat to over 50 degrees centigrade, you can fry an egg on the pavement.

Inside the air conditioning creates an ideal temperature and does not affect the flight of the ball or cause moans and groans from disenchanted players.

In fact, the facilities at the Aspire Zone in Qatar are as perfect as is possible for high class players to exercise their skills but the heat is on and it is being turned up.

At the conclusion of the second day of play, Friday 11th May 2012, the group stage of the Men’s Singles event has been completed and the first round of the Women’s Singles competition had been concluded.

Women’s Singles First Round
A total of 16 players entered the arena for the opening round of the Women’s Singles event, the other 16 qualifiers all receiving opening round byes.

Eight matches in total, only one was decided in straight games and one in five games; the rest were six or seven games tension packed duels.

Impressive Wins
Hungary’s Petra Lovas, after not being at her best in the first phase of proceedings, returned to form; she beat Ukraine’s Ganna Gaponova in four straight games (11-9, 12-10, 11-8, 15-13).

A return to form for Petra Lovas, for Spain’s Sara Ramirez, she maintained the form displayed in the initial phase; she overcame the Slovak Republic’s Barbora Balazova in five games (11-9, 6-11, 11-7, 11-9, 11-6).

Six Games Needed
Relatively comfortable victories but that was not the situation for Hong Kong’s Lee Ho Ching, Chinese Taipei’s Lin Chia-Hui and Serbia’s Ana-Maria Erdelji; they all needed six games to ensure success.

Lee Ho Ching beat the Czech Republic’s Renata Strbikova (11-6, 9-11, 11-8, 11-7, 8-11, 11-7), Lin Chia-Hui overcame India’s Poulomi Ghatak (11-9, 11-8, 12-14, 6-11, 11-8, 11-4) and Ana-Marija Erdeji accounted for England’s Joanna Parker (6-11, 11-7, 12-14, 14-12, 11-9, 11-1).

Full Distance
Six games to secure victory, for Romania’s Bernadette Szocs, Russia’s Yana Noskova and Ukraine’s Tetyana Bilenko; they needed the full seven games.

Bernadette Szocs defeated Italy’s Nikoleta Stefanova (12-10, 11-9, 9-11, 12-10, 5-11, 5-11, 11-8),Yana Noskova eventually succeeded against Poland’s Katarzyna Grzybowska (11-5, 8-11, 11-7, 5-11, 5-11, 11-8, 11-7); whilst Tetyana Blenko kept her London aspirations alive by realistically ending the dreams of a fifth consecutive Olympic Games for Croatia’s Tamara Boros.

Tetyana Bilenko won 8-11, 11-7, 7-11, 17-15, 11-6, 9-11, 11-5.

Joining the Fray
The eight successful players are now joined by the eight who received first round byes as they compete for places one to sixteen.

Matilda Ekholm (Sweden), Oxana Fadeeva (Russia), Gabriela Feher (Serbia) and Galia Dvorak (Spain) occupy the four places in the top half of the draw.

Lower Half of Draw
In the lower half, Lei Huang Mendes (Portugal), Liu Na (Great Britain), Dana Hadacova (Czech Republic) and Anna Tikhomirova (Russia) join the action.

In Doha the heat is on, boiling point.