Tennis: Erakovic stays alive in Aust Open qualifying

New Zealand tennis player Marina Erakovic has won through to the second round of singles qualifying for the Australian Open today.

Erakovic, ranked 332 in the world, came back from a set down in her first round clash today to knock out the 219th-ranked Irena Pavlovic of France 6-3 6-7 6-4.

The New Zealander was the more aggressive player but it wasn't until the second set that her aggression turned into winners.

A former top 50 player, Erakovic dropped a service game early in the first set and though she broke back in the seventh game, Pavlovic broke immediately afterwards and served out to take the set 6-3.

Erakovic then lost her serve in the first game of the second set but she broke back in the fourth game and forced a tiebreak, which she dominated 7-2.

The pattern continued into the third set, with Erakovic breaking Pavlovic's first two service games. Pavlovic got a break back in the fourth game and nearly broke back in the eighth game, but Erakovic held on after a 10-minute game.

She then had two match points in the 10th game and won on the second of them.

Erakovic was the more aggressive, hitting 11 aces and 22 winners in the match.

She had however made five double faults and five unforced errors by the middle of the match, but made only one more of each for the remainder of the match.

Pavlovic by contrast had not hit a single clean winner until midway through the second set. By the end of the match she had eight winners and only one double fault and one unforced error.

Erakovic will play world number 128 Kurumi Nara in the second round of qualifying. She will need two more wins to qualify for the main draw.

- NZPA