Who would have thought it? The finalists in Eastbourne--and worthy finalists they are--turn out to be Jamie Hampton and Elena Vesnina. Both players have moved more toward their potential in the last several months.
In today's semifinals, Hampton defeated 5th seed Caroline Wozniacki 6-7, 7-5, 6-3, and Vesnina defeated Yanina Wickmayer 6-2, 6-0.
The doubles championship will be contested by the top-seeded team of Nadia Petrova and Katarina Srebotnik and the team of Monica Niculescu and Klara Zakopalova.
Over in the Netherlands, at the Topshelf Open, Simona Halep defetaed 3rd seed Carla Suarez Navarro in the semifinals. Halep's opponent in the final will be 4th seed Kirsten Flipkens, who defeated Garbine Murguruza. The doubles title went to 2nd seeds Irina-Camelia Begu and Anabel Medina Garrigues. They beat Dominika Cibulkova and Arantxa Parra Santonja 4-6, 7-6, 11-9!
Hampton has not yet won a WTA title, and Vesnina recently won her first title, after contesting several finals. This will be Hampton's first WTA final. Flipkens and Halep each have one title; Halep won hers recently in Nurmberg, on clay.
2 comments:
Simona's serve is improving, but is still not as good as it was in 2009 (bad technique). She makes up for it with terrific, effortless movement, powerful and varied strokes, and high intelligence as to shot selection. Cool under pressure. No tendency to go away. Go Simona! She is good on all surfaces too. Just 21 and coming into her own.
I'm so glad--I've been expecting this for a while.
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