World number 8 Angelique Kerber reached the final of the AEGON International today when she defeated Klara Zakopalova 6-0, 6-3 in the semifinals. In Kerber's way is Tamira Paszek, who defeated 4th seed Marion Bartoli 4-6, 7-5, 6-4. Paszek had to beat Tsvetana Pironkova to get to the semifinals, but Pironkova's back injury undoubtedly helped her. In taking out Bartoli, however, the Austrian player made more of a statement.
Kerber won championships in Paris and Copenhagen earlier this year.
Top seeds Liezel Huber and Lisa Raymond will play in the doubles final against 4th seeds Nuria Llagostera Vives and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. Huber and Raymond defeated Zakopalova and Anna-Lena Groenefeld in the semifinals. Llagostera Vives and Martinez Sanchez defeated 2nd seeds Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik.
At the UNICEF Open, 8th seed Nadia Petrova defeated Kirsten Flipkens in straight sets. Her opponent in the final will be Urszula Radwanska, who advanced when her semifinal opponent, Kim Clijsters, gave her a walkover. There are rumors of an abdominal injury.
In doubles, top seeds Sara Errani and Roberta Vinci, the French Open champions, advanced to the final, as did 2nd seeds Maria Kirilenko and Nadia Petrova. Kirilenko and Petrova received a walkover from Flavia Pennetta and Francesca Schiavone; Schiavone has a thigh injury.
Bartoli was up 6-4/4-0 against Paszek in very windy conditions, but lost the lead and then the match.
ReplyDeleteSort of sounds like when Bartoli beat Henin in the Wimbledon SF in '07 under similar circumstances.
Does, doesn't it? Paszek is also one of those players who does well from behind--she seems to like the pressure.
ReplyDeletePaszek must have been listening to you, Diane. After saving 5 MP against Kerber to win the title, she's now defeated the world #9 and #8 in back-to-back matches. Next up at Wimbledon is world #7 Wozniacki. Hmmm.
ReplyDeleteThat was pretty amazing. She got into Kerber's head, big-time.
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