Peer meets challenge from Paszek

The top seed in at the Citi Open, Shahar Peer, had to fight back against 3rd seed Tamira Paszek in the semifinals today, and she was up to the task. Paszek won the first set 6-3, and she served for the match at 5-4 in the second set, but was broken. There was a break in play before that, however, because the Austrian player had to be treated for heat illness.The set went to a tiebreak, and Peer won the first point with an ace up the T. Paszek thought she had won the second point, but Peer considered the point a let since the ball was dead.

The umpire then had to make a determination about whether the ball was actually broken or just lacking air. When she was able to sqeeze the ball almost flat, she determined that it was broken, but Paszek argued that because it was playable, it was a legitimate ball. Unable to get satisfaction from the umpire, she asked to have the referee come out; however, he immediately deferred to the umpire, so the point had to be replayed. Paszek lost the next four points, and ultimately lost  the tiebreak. Peer went on to win the third set 6-3.

2nd seed/wild card Nadia Petrova won the other semifinal match. Petrova defeated Irina Falconi 1-6, 6-1, 6-3.

Top doubles seeds Sania Mirza and Yaroslava Shvedova advanced to the final when they defeated 4th seeds Peer and Sloane Stephens 6-0, 6-1. Their opponents in the final will be 2nd seeds Olga Govortsova and Alla Kudryavtseva.