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Emina Bektas defeats Su-jeong Jang to progress to Seoul QF

By Myre Aberdan

BEIJING, CHINA - SEPTEMBER 29: Emina Bektas of the United State return a shot against match Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic during day 4 of the 2023 China Open at at National Tennis Center on September 29, 2023 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Fred Lee/Getty Images)
BEIJING, CHINA - SEPTEMBER 29: Emina Bektas of the United State return a shot against match Karolina Muchova of the Czech Republic during day 4 of the 2023 China Open at at National Tennis Center on September 29, 2023 in Beijing, China. (Photo by Fred Lee/Getty Images) /
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Bektas vs Jang

Match summary:

Bektas won the first set 6-3! She’s a newer, less familiar name but she was making strides against Jang, who has featured quite a fair bit on the WTA in the past year. In the opening service game of the first set, Jang consolidated to shoot go up 40-15 lead then held. Bektas then shot to a 40-0 lead but an overhead ball to keep the ball in play was smashed down the centre line by Jang. Bektas then double faulted- with the following service game’s ensuing rally ending with a corner smash from Jang to go up 15-0.

An ace sealed the deal to seal Jang’s first game of the second set. She seems to be on top, but needed to claw back if she had any chance of making the quarter-finals at home. Bektas fired an ace to go up 15-0 in her service game, but Jang responded and exchanged rallies but went long and out on Bektas’s left side-line. This match was quite, mind you, and possessed some of the cleanest tennis you’ll see all year on both tours. Crisp sounds coming from the tennis balls, and the ball placement was not overly boring. The balls were travelling at speed but still moved within the lines

After a cross court exchange, Jang decided to go to Bektas’s right side to finish the point but the ball was long. 2-2 30-30. The next point was a longer, great rally but Bektas made Jang stretch out to her left side and reach to keep the ball in play. Nonetheless, Bektas was waiting at the net to return it back. What a change in that single game that was. Bektas had just gotten broken after Jang went up to advantage on a service game that Bektas lead in. The first break of the second set was given to Jang.

Jang then dumped it into the net off a return. An error from Jang handed Bektas a chance to break back. A wide ball from Jang resulted in Jang being broken back to stay on serve. On the following point, an error from Bektas was committed on her serve, lending a 30- 15 lead to Jang. This was then followed by a cross court relay with Bektas going up the line on the 3rd shot off the rally. However, she made the mistake lost the rally a few shots after to gift her opponent a 40-30 lead in the 3rd game.

Bektas then just held for a 4-all but was on the offensive and went up 30-0 on Jang’s serve. The following point was a double fault from Jang, which lent Bektas 2 break points. A long ball from Jang to Bektas’s left side-line, followed by a cross court relay, made Jang pay for the mistake and put Bektas one step closer to a quarter final. Bektas then fired a wide ace, which was followed shortly by a few errors and a winner from Bektas, pushing her into just her second tour level quarter final.

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