Dulko Eliminates Peer on Grandstand

On a cloudy but much cooler day at the Acura Classic, Argentina’s Gisela Dulko and Israeli Shahar Peer opened Tuesday’s day session on the Grandstand. 

In a thrilling first-round match, Dulko finished with the upper hand as she shook off the loss of the first set to eliminate Peer, 2-6, 6-3, 6-3.

Peer, fresh from winning the doubles champion at last week’s Sony Ericsson WTA Tour event in Northern California, displayed a wide variety of shots which allowed her to break Dulko’s serve twice in the first set. 

The Argentine nearly got one of those breaks back as she went had Peer at 15-40 in the eighth game, but Peer fought back and served out the set when Dulko’s forehand sailed across the baseline. 

With every winning shot, Peer would glance up at her coach and give a fist pump.

In the second set, Peer lost her serve in second game but got pumped up when she broke right back with some brilliant shot making.

However Dulko forced the match to a third set as she broke Peer again and served out the second set at 5-3 after a 14-point game.

A disputed line call caused Peer to lose concentration in the first game of the third set.  She hit one of her five double faults to give Dulko break point and eventually lost serve.

Dulko grabbed the momentum as she broke Peer twice in the last three games of the match to seal the victory.

Fifth-seeded Patty Schnyder, who received a first-round bye, watched the match from the stands. She will play Dulko in her second round match.

• Dulko is playing in her third career Acura Classic. She reached the third round in 2004 before losing to Maria Sharapova.
• Dulko is ranked 33 in the world.
• Dulko reached the fourth round at Roland Garros earlier this year.
• Dulko now leads Peer 2-0 in career head-to-head meetings.
• Peer is ranked 25 in the world.
• Peer is playing in her second career Acura Classic. She lost in the second round in 2005.
• Peer reached the fourth round at Roland Garros this year.

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