Thursday, July 31, 2008

Paszek takes Ivanovic out of Montreal

Tamira Paszek has not had a good season, and has plummeted in the rankings, but this week, she has reminded us of her potential. She began her Rogers Cup competition by defeating 14th seed Francesca Schiavone, and tonight, she defeated world number 1 Ana Ivanovic, who played with an injured thumb. The relentless young baseline player, unlike many players her age, sticks it out to the bitter end, as she dramatically demonstrated in the first round of the Australian Open, when she lost to Jelena Jankovic after over three hours of play. Paszek def. Ivanovic, 6-2, 1-6, 6-2

The contest that really dragged on--for just over three hours--was one of contrasting styles, when 10th seeded Marion Bartoli, played number 6 seed Anna Chakvetadze. I did not get to see this match (in which Bartoli saved three match points), but I saw their last one, and it was fun to watch such a wide variety of shots and strategies being executed in one match. Bartoli def. Chakvetadze, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6

Michelle Larcher de Brito is gone, but not after putting up a big fight against Svetlana Kuznetsova. In yet another close match, Kuznetsova prevailed, 7-5, 2-6, 6-4. Larcher de Brito, however, appears to have finally made her mark in a meaningful way.

There was also a third upset: Dominika Cibulkova defeated number 12 seed Nadia Petrova, 7-6, 6-2.

In other Rogers Cup news, Jelena Jankovic defeated Stephanie Dubois, Dinara Safina defeated Patty Schnyder, and Virginie Razzano retired against Victoria Azarenka; I don't know the reason for the retirement.

(Friday update: Razzano retired because of a thigh injury.)

2 comments:

Todd Spiker said...

I loved Jankovic's comment after defeating Wozniak and Dubois in back-to-back matches -- "I took out two Canadians, maybe the people will start to hate me now."

So, with Ivanovic's lsos, I guess she now needs to just make the final to become the new #1.

Diane said...

That is correct. She gets to the final--she's number 1.