Kristina Mladenovic was scheduled to play Lesia Tsurenko in the first round at the Olympics. However, an 11th-hour change saw Aleksandra Krunic as Tsurenko’s replacement. Against the Serbian, Mladenovic has won once but that was five years ago.
After a slight delay, the match went underway and it was the Frenchwoman who got off to a strong start to take the first set in commanding fashion. Krunic momentarily took an early lead but it was short-lived before eventually Mladenovic found a late break to seal a 6-1, 6-4 victory, registering her first win at the Olympics. She advances to the second round where she faces Madison Keys who also progressed with a straight sets victory.
Mladenovic eases through the first set
The Frenchwoman took an early lead after breaking Krunic’s serve in the second game. The Serbian had a chance to get back on level terms but Mladenovic stood firm to deny Krunic and proceeded to consolidate a 3-0 lead.
Krunic eventually got her game together to get on the board for 1-3. While Mladenovic maintained her strong grip on her service games to extend her lead to 4-1. The Serbian however crumbled under pressure and gave away another break to the Frenchwoman who then went on to seal the first set needing just 31 minutes.
Mladenovic starts to misfire and makes errors but finds the crucial break
With momentum swinging her way the Frenchwoman almost made it four games in a row but Krunic hung on to start the second set with an important hold. That proved costly for Mladenovic as instead her serve was broken and she trailed 0-2. The Serbian was serving to make it 3-0, gave away break back point to the Frenchwoman at 30-40. Even though she rescued that break point, she was under pressure and caved in to hand the break back to Mladenovic. The Frenchwoman then leveled the set 2-2.
Mladenovic was making a lot of errors but kept up with the Serbian despite the scoreboard pressure. The rest of the set went by on serve up until the ninth game. Krunic who seemed to have steadied her serve then had a poor game and handed the game to the Frenchwoman. With a 5-4 lead, Mladenovic made no mistake to serve out the win.
Match Statistics
Mladenovic posted some good numbers in her serving, getting in 70 percent of first serves. Though she struggled slightly to win points off of them in the second set, she was only broken once in the entire match.
Krunic, on the other hand, struggled to get in first serves getting in only 55 percent of them. That allowed the Frenchwoman a chance to pounce which Mladenovic did breaking the Serbian’s serve four times out of eight opportunities created.