The
semi final line up has been decided at the Brisbane International
and for the first time in a long time at a high level tournament,
all too four seeds has reached the last four. World number one Serena
Williams eased her way to a straight sets 63 63 win over
Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova. Impressively in the first set
Williams didn’t lose a point on her serve. Meanwhile as for the
other three, they had far tougher matches. Still on the come back
from her shoulder injury Maria Sharapova came from a set
down to beat Kanepi, 46 63 62. Clearly the mighty Russians fighting
spirit is still there which is reassuring her fans. Second seed
Azarenka had a second set blip before beating surprise semi finalist
Stefanie voegele 64 67 61. Finally jankovic lost a tight first
set against Kerber before producing a convincing 67 63 61
win.
At
the ASB Classic, Venus Williams good start to the season is
continuing with a 63 63 win over Spain's Garbine Muguruza.
Statistically according to upI.com Williams dropped serve twice but
won nearly two thirds of points on her serve and 29 of 57 points off
Mururuza service games. In the semis Williams will face fellow
countrywomen Jamie Hampton who reached her first WTA tour semi
final since Stanford in July after battling to a 62 46 64 win over
another young American, Lauren Davis. In the other semi final
it will be Anna Ivanovic who sailed past Japan's Nara (62 62)
facing shock Wimbledon Semi finalist Kirsten Flipkens after
the Belgians 64 75 win over Japan's Ishiza.
Finally at the
Shenzhen Open world
Number 3 Li Na
looks on course to defend her title after her three sets win over
Romanian Monica Niculescu. Li Na did admit to issues during her 75 46 64
win. Quoting Shenzhenopentennis.com she said:-“I
had to work hard to find my rhythm today and play well against an
opponent with such an unusual style of play,”
“I
need to play these kinds of matches [before the Australian Open];
this way I can make the necessary adjustments and increase my belief
in myself.”
Next
for the Chinese superstar is 19 year old German Annika Beck. World
number 58 Beck came from a set down to beat Austria's Patricia
Mayr-Achleitner 36 63 61. In the bottom half of the draw 5th
seed Peng Shuai produced a comfortable 63 62 win against Jana
Čepelová. Finally the surprise of the tournament by far has been
Vania King's impressive run so far. King beat second seed Errani in
the second round and continued her great start to the season with a
straight sets 62 64 win over Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová.
No comments:
Post a Comment