Dubai: It is not very often that a young player has a world famous coach like Tony Roche sitting and encouraging her.
Perhaps it is this encouragement that made all the difference as Australian Sophie Ferguson fought back from a one-set deficit to win 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 against wild card Bianca-Ioana Bonifate of Romania at the 8th Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge here yesterday.
"These wild card entrants are pretty tough to handle as one is not aware of what they can come up with," a relieved Ferguson told Gulf News after a gruelling two hours on court.
The 20-year-old Australian had the most discouraging starts as she lost serve early to go down 4-6 in the opening set.
But she recovered, taking the next set 6-3, only to see a slight dip in her game as the third set progressed.
"I was pleased as I had started playing to an acceptable level by the end of the second set," Ferguson said.
But in the third, she ran into trouble again as her Romanian opponent threatened to break free.
Encouraging words
A few encouraging words and looks from outside the sidelines from Roche may have had a settling affect on the girl from Sydney as a double fault helped her break one last time to take the set and match.
"It was a tough match and I am happy with the win, though I could have played better today," she said.
Ferguson has a ranking of 198 compared to a distant 927 for the wild card entrant from Romania. "But these matches are tricky as the wild cards come in and no one seems to know anything much about their game," she said.
Roche was all praise for his ward - a rarity considering that he does not coach too many players. "She lives near me in Sydney and the family is close friends of mine," Roche said.
"She's got some potential and she is a good blend between the modern and the conventional. She can go a long way," the former Grand Slam champion said.
Also winning on the opening day of this week-long event was second seeded Emma Laine of Finland with a swift 6-2, 6-3 result against Great Britain's Melanie South.
But falling by the wayside, after a gritty fightback, was Algerian Samia Medjahdi to Ukrainian opponent Katerina Avdiyenko.
Medjahdi fought back from the brink to level terms after Avdiyenko had taken the first set and was serving for the match 5-2.
But she withered away in the third set as Avdiyenko made her superior experience count.
The tournament was earlier opened by Khalaf Al Habtoor, chairman, Al Habtoor Group of Companies.
Earlier, Natalia Orlova, Lubomira Kurhajcova, Ekaterina Shulaeva and Pemra Ozgen were the four qualifiers to make it through to the main draw of the competition.
