Saturday, April 5, 2014

Charleston semifinal notes

One of the participants in today's Family Circle Cup semifinals is The Unknown. 6th seed Eugenie Bouchard and 13th seed Andrea Petkovic have never played each other before. Also, the unseeded Jana Cepelova and qualifier Belinda Bencic have never played each other.

17-year-old Bencic, because she had to go through qualifying, has now played six matches, while her opponent has played four. But Cepelova has had to deal with issues with both her shoulder and her leg, and has acknowledged exhaustion, so the young pair may be fairly matched in terms of fatigue.

The lowest seed ever to win in Charleston was 2009 champion Sabine Lisicki, who was seeded 16th. Justin Henin was unseeded when she won in 2005 because she had just returned from a long layoff because of illness. In 2002, the unseeded Iva Majloi won the tournament. Her opponent in the final was the unseeded Patty Schnyder. That was the year that Schnyder took out Amelie Mauresmo, Mary Pierce, Serena Williams, and top seed Jennifer Capriati.

No comments: