Friday, August 20, 2010

Zvonareva advances to Rogers Cup semifinals

8th seed Vera Zvonareva had a great day in Montreal, defeating 5th seed Kim Clijsters 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the quarterfinals. Clijsters took a medical break after the second set, and returned to the court with her left thigh wrapped. She said later that her movement was hampered, but she could still hit, so she kept going. Zvonareva, for her part, played beautifully, exhibiting the compact, but stinging, backhand that so often wins her points.

Clijsters tried to arrange an MRI during the coming weekend, but said the local hospitals were all full, so she will have one done at the beginning of next week.

Zvonareva will compete against Victoria Azarenka in the semifinals. 10th seed Azarenka defeated 17th seed Marion Bartoli 6-2, 7-6. Bartoli led throughout the tiebreak, but could not convert four set points. The match was a mix of really big hitting and many double faults.

The other semifinal match will feature 11th seed Svetlana Kuznetsova, who handily defeated Zheng Jie today, and 2nd seed Caroline Wozniacki. Wozniacki defeated 6th seed Francesca Schiavone in straight sets.

In doubles, 6th seeds Chan Yung-Jan and Zheng Jie were upset by Monica Niculescu and Shahar Peer, and Wimbledon finalists Elena Vesnina and Vera Zvonareva lost to 2nd seeds Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta.

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