Gabriela Ruse and Harmony Tan have finished in style, by a two-and-a-half-hour fight, the second day of Transylvania Open 2022. The Romanian won 6-7 (5), 6-2, 6-3, thus ending a series of four losses on WTA main draws.
Ruse came back from 1-3 in the decisive: she was more aggressive than her opponent but had to fight for every point as Tan made her no presence at all.
Harmony Tan, World No. 122, is a tenacious player, with an uncomfortable defensive game. She moves very well and shows remarkable fitness. She proved all these when she ousted Serena Williams at Wimbledon, in a more than three-hour match. She proved it again in Cluj, reminding us that she masters very well the backhand slice shots and that she is able to accelerate in order to rebalance her opponent.
We’ve seen again this tactic against Ruse. The Romanian had six break points at the end of the first set but lost a balanced tiebreak: 7-5.
Energized by the food she had before the second set, Ruse raised her level, broke serve at 3-1, kept her service, and ended the set with a convincing 6-2.
In the decisive set, the French player immediately recovered: she broke Ruse’s serve, had 2-0, and forced the Romanian to come back again. And Ruse did it in style.
Although she missed her first chance for a rebreak, Ruse somehow managed to equal at 3 before further accelerating, sometimes with a backhand in the cross, sometimes with a forehand down the line – her best shot today.
She took five consecutive games and thus won the most spectacular match of the second day in the Transylvania Open. She will now meet No. 7 seed Xiyu Wang, who ousted Jaqueline Cristian in round 1.
Darth Gabi saves the day for the 🇷🇴!
Gabriela Ruse gets the W in a gripping encounter with Harmony Tan, coming back from a break down in the decider: 6-7, 6-2, 6-3.#TO2022 pic.twitter.com/5r8HmLCFJE
— Transylvania Open (@TransylvaniaOpn) October 11, 2022
