During the first set of her Porsche Tennis Grand Prix semifinal, Flavia Pennetta exhibited beautifully controlled aggression against Dinara Safina's out-of-control aggression. Pennetta took that set 6-3, and continued to overcome Safina with a combination of power and precision for the first half of the second set. But Safina--whom I nicknamed "Thrill Ride" after her roller coaster European clay court run last year--finally got control of her wild impulses.
At 3-6, 4-5, she served a love game. Pennetta went up 40-15 in her next game, and Safina saved a game point. At 40-30, Pennetta double-faulted, and an argument could be made that that double-fault was the costliest error she committed in the match. Safina broke her on her second break point, and then held to take the second set 7-5.
The third set was simply the Safina show, as the world number 1 and top seed executed just the right amounts of power, precision and touch to win the set 6-0. She had a lot of help from Pennetta, who simply went away. I was hoping for a rousing third set, and was disappointed to see the match become so one-sided.
Safina will face Svetlana Kuznetsova in the final. I was unable to watch Kuznetsova's semifinal match against Elena Dementieva, but my understanding is that she played superbly, defeating the 2nd seed 6-4, 6-2.
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