Top seed Jelena Jankovic was defeated 6-4, 6-3 in the Nurnberg semifinals today by Andrea Petkovic. Petkovic's opponent in the final will be Simona Halep, who beat Lucie Safarova 6-3 0-6, 6-2 in the semifinals.
In Birmingham, Francesca Schiavone did what she seems to like to do frequently: She played a very long match (3 hours and almost 23 minutes). She lost, however, to Daniela Hantuchova. Hantuchova beat her 6-7, 6-4, 7-6 in the quarterfinals. Also going out were 3rd seed Sorana Cirstea (def. by Donna Vekic) and Madison Keys (def. by Magdalena Rybarikova). Rybarikova won the second set 6-0.
Nice, Magda, Daniela and Simona have all been playing much better for a few months!!
ReplyDeleteAnd nice transition to grass, too. Well done, Simona.
ReplyDeleteThat Hantuchova-Schiavone match was very compelling, and I'm happy for Daniela, but Francesca really, REALLY should have won it from a set and 4-1 up in the second. She'd been playing so well, but then suddenly it seemed like she just couldn't sustain that level anymore. Perhaps if she'd asked for that energy bar just a few games sooner....
ReplyDeleteBeth
Actually, for Simona the transition to grass is yet to come -- the Nuernburg tournament was played on red clay. It's hard for me to understand how playing on clay this close to Wimbledon could be the best use of any player's time, but I guess some of them have a VERY strong preference for the surface, or regard it as their best opportunity for racking up some more points! It will be interesting, though, to see how those still playing on clay this past week fare in SW19.
ReplyDeleteI meant well-done for winning the event. But yes, not only does it make little sense to hold a clay tournament right before Wimbledon, but it makes little sense to have such a rapid transition. But we've been saying this for years.
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