Friday, August 23, 2013

Petra vs. Simona--how can this not be a good final?

New Haven defending champion Petra Kvitova swatted away her semifinal opponent, Klara Zakapalova, in just over 50 minutes today; Zakapalova won only one game. Kakapalova, by the way, is a good player, and capable of doing many things. But Kvitova was, shall we say, "herself" in this match, and--as a reader has pointed out--once again, during such a fine display of the Czech number 1's game, Kvitova's coach is absent. That's when she does best, it seems--when he isn't around.

Kvitova's opponent in the final will be Simona Halep, which means tomorrow's match could be a shotmaker's dream come true. Halep has finally come into her own. This is her fourth final of the season; she won the other three. Both players are a joy to watch when they're playing well, so tomorrow's contest should be a very good one.

Halep beat four-time New Haven champion Caroline Wozniacki 6-2, 7-5 in tonight's semifinal. The Romanian player had some problems with negativity toward herself during the second set, but she overcame them, and was just too good for Wozniacki.

2nd seeds Anabel Medina Garrigues and Katarina Srebotnik reached the doubles final tonight when they defeated 4th seeds Liezel Huber and Nuria Llagostera Vives 4-6, 7-5, 10-1. Yesterday, 3rd seeds Sania Mirza and Zheng Jie reached the final when they defeated Silvia Soler-Espinosa and Carla Suarez Navarro 6-3, 6-3. Mirza, in my opinion, has the fiercest forehand on the tour, and indeed, one of the mightiest forehands I've ever seen in women's tennis. But executing that forehand did so much damage to her wrist that she has had to stick with doubles only.

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