Thursday, August 25, 2011

Cetkovska advances to New Haven semifinals

Once in a while, we get an opportunity to notice the Czech "Petra" who is not Kvitova. That would be Petra Cetkovska, the qualifier who upset 4th seed Marion Bartoli 7-5, 7-5 today in the New Haven quarterfinals. Cetkovska's semifinal opponent will be 2nd seed Li Na. Li defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 in a quarterfinal  filled with extraneous nuisances. There were two rain delays, and after the first set, Pavlyuchenkova went on a rant about the weather. In the third set, the Russian hurt her ankle. There were eleven breaks of serve and twenty double faults; at times, the match looked as though it would go on indefinitely, but it Li was finally able to put together a victory.

Earlier in the day, 3rd seed Francesca Schiavone received a walkover from Anabel Medina Garrigues, who injured her right knee. In the final match of the day, three-time defending champion and top seed Caroline Wozniacki defeated wild card Christina McHale 7-5, 6-3. McHale knocked Wozniacki out of the second round in Cincinnati. Tonight, however, McHale faded away after performing well for most of the first set; the change that came over her was sudden and inexplicable.

Saturday's final, originally scheduled for 5 p.m., has been changed to 1 p.m. as organizers try to avoid the possible consequences of a hurricane. There has already been a brief evacuation because of an earthquake.

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