Bartoli Overcomes Slow Start to Oust Nakamura

Fifth-seeded Marion Bartoli of France started off slowly in her second-round Acura Classic match against Japan’s Aiko Nakamura, but rebounded and finished strong for a 7-6 (4), 6-1 victory.

In a tight first set, Bartoli found herself down 5-6, 15-40 to Nakamura, who is one of the many talented Japanese players on the tour.

Bartoli fought back and won three straight points to get to Ad-in. On the next point she executed a perfectly placed backhand cross court passing shot to send the set to a tiebreak.

In the tiebreaker, Bartoli took a commanding 6-1 lead only to see Nakamura win three straight points to make the score 6-4. On the next point, Bartoli captured the set when Nakamura sent a backhand long after a lengthy baseline exchange.

After erasing a break point in the opening game of the second set, Bartoli held serve. She then broke serve for a 2-0 lead as Nakamura committed three double faults.

Bartoli extended her lead to 3-1 and won 12 of the last 15 points, including an ace on match point, to win the match and advance to the third round.

The Frenchwoman finished with 8 aces in the match, which took 1 hour and 39 minutes to complete.

• Bartoli advances to the third round where she will meet the winner of the Elena Dementieva / Angelique Kerber match.
• Bartoli is ranked 12 in the world.
• Bartoli was runner-up at Wimbledon earlier this summer.
• Bartoli improves her 2007 match record to 32-19.
• Bartoli now leads Nakamura 2-0 in career head-to-head meetings.
• Bartoli is making her fifth career Acura Classic appearance. She reached the third round here in 2003 and 2004.
• Bartoli has represented France in Fed Cup play.
• Nakamura is ranked 61 in the world.
• Nakamura was making her second career Acura Classic appearance.
• Nakamura reached the third round of the 2007 Australian Open.
• Nakamura has represented Japan in Fed Cup play.
• Nakamura’s 2007 match record is now 14-16.

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