Mixed Day in Cincinnati QF
July 23, 2005
Eric Spohn
CINCINNATI, Ohio, USA
It was another mixed day for the seeds at the $170,000 Western & Southern
Financial Group Women's Open on Friday, as all four quarterfinals were
completed at the Tier III event held in Cincinnati, Ohio. Patty Schnyder and
Daniela Hantuchova kept moving ahead, while Jelena Jankovic was the latest
upset victim in the first event of the summer hardcourt swing.
Schnyder, the top seed this week, advanced to her 31st career Sony Ericsson WTA
Tour semifinal with a 76(1) 62 victory over 66th-ranked Israeli Shahar Peer in
one hour and 15 minutes in a night match. Towards the end of a tight 49-minute
first set, in which both players struggled on their service games and were each
broken three times, the 12th-ranked Swisswoman stepped up her game,
steamrolling her younger opponent in the tie-break. She then took complete
control of the match in the second set, losing just five points on serve and
breaking Peer twice en route to the victory.
"I don't know why we had so many breaks in the first set, because I'm usually
really good at holding my serve," said Schnyder, who blasted five aces in the
match, and hit a career-best 117mph serve in the first set. "I was happy with
the tie-break. I just stuck to my game plan and kept trying to make her work
and it paid off."
Schnyder now heads into her sixth semifinal of the year with an impressive
36-13 record for the season, winning her ninth career Sony Ericsson WTA Tour
title in January at Gold Coast and reaching the final at Rome, the semifinals
at Dubai, Charleston and Berlin, and the quarterfinals four other times,
including at the Australian Open. After her run to the final at the Italian
Open in May, where she defeated world No.2 Maria Sharapova in the semifinals
before losing in three sets to third-ranked Amelie Mauresmo, the 26-year-old
from Switzerland returned to the Top 10 for the first time in over six years,
spending three weeks at No.10.
Next up for Schnyder will be 177th-ranked qualifier Bethanie Mattek, who caused
the second major upset of the tournament with a see-saw 61 06 62 victory over
No.3 seed Jelena Jankovic. Mattek, who had never advanced to a Tour
quarterfinal prior to this week, was in command in the first set, maintaining
an impressive 75% first serve percentage and breaking serve twice. The second
set was a different story, as Jankovic allowed Mattek just 10 points in a run
of six straight games. The final set was the closest of the three, but Mattek
surged ahead on the strength of two breaks of serve, eventually closing it out
on her fourth match point in one hour and 32 minutes.
"I have worked really hard for this," said Mattek, whose victory over the
19th-ranked Jankovic was the first Top 20 victory of her career. "I know how I
play in practice, I know my shots and I know I can play at this level. It's
just a matter of doing it. The crowd was great out there. It really feels
great."
"I just wasn't playing well the whole tournament," said Jankovic, whose luggage
arrived late at the beginning of the week, hindering her preparations for the
tournament. "I didn't practice and wasn't feeling my game. Today I just
couldn't do it.
"All the credit to her. She played a good match today."
Mattek is now 2-0 against Jankovic, having also defeated the Serbian in three
tough sets at the ITF Women's Circuit event in Oyster Bay in 2003. Mattek and
Schnyder will meet for the first time in the semifinals on Saturday.
"Tomorrow is a new day, new set," said Mattek on the looming Saturday semifinal.
"I just need to keep going for my shots. As far as I've played this week, it's
just the semifinals and I've got to keep going."
On the bottom half of the draw, No.4 seed Daniela Hantuchova advanced to her
12th career Tour semifinal in the day's first match, overcoming an early
challenge before defeating 81st-ranked Yoon Jeong Cho 67(1) 64 61. Hantuchova
blew numerous chances to take charge early on, converting on just one of 10
break points in the opening set while Cho broke serve on her lone break point.
"I had so many chances that I didn't use," said Hantuchova of her early
struggles. "Maybe I was going for it too much and I was taking too many
chances."
After losing the first-set tie-break, however, Hantuchova pulled her game
together, breaking serve four times in the second and third sets combined,
fighting off Cho's lone break opportunity and winning the last four games of
the match en route to the two-hour-and-20-minute victory. The 22-year-old
Slovak is now 2-0 against Cho, also defeating the Korean in straight sets in
the first round at Birmingham last year.
"I had so much energy," said Hantuchova on her form later in the match, which
was helped by a 10-minute break after the second set due to the extreme Friday
afternoon heat. "I felt really good after that. Even after the match. I felt
like I could have played another set.
"It's been a great start to the summer tournaments. I feel like I had good
preparation before I got here and it's paying off. I just need to keep going."
In the only battle involving two unseeded players, 72nd-ranked Akiko Morigami
of Japan ousted 70th-ranked Indian teenager Sania Mirza by a score of 64 63 in
one hour and 14 minutes. Morigami, who hits with two hands off of both sides,
was more impressive on the big points, converting on all five of her break
point opportunities, while Mirza broke on just two of her eight break chances.
With the win, the 25-year-old from Tokyo reached just her third career Tour
semifinal, having made final four appearances in 2003 at the Tier IV event in
Hyderabad and at the Tier II event in Shanghai, and also avenged a loss in her
only prior encounter with Mirza, a marathon three-set defeat in the first round
at Wimbledon this year.
"Beating Vera gave me good confidence," said Morigami, whose straight-sets win
over the 15th-ranked Zvonareva on Thursday was the second-best victory of her
career. "It's not always about results, but I'm very happy with the way I
played in that match and the way I played today."
Next up for Morigami will be Hantuchova, who holds a 2-0 lead in their head-to-
head, winning 75 62 in the second round at Amelia Island in 2003, and 64 75 in
the first round at the Australian Open this year.
"She's very competitive and focused," said Morigami on her semifinal opponent.
"She always has a good serve, so I'll have to have a good return game."
Also on Saturday will be the doubles semifinals, with top seeds Kveta Peschke
and Maria Emilia Salerni facing the unseeded team of Mirza and Yuliana Fedak,
and No.2 seeds Iveta Benesova and Meilen Tu playing No.3 seeds Laura Granville
and Abigail Spears.
韓娃在第一盤10次破發機會只破了一次..
加油嚕...
下場比賽別再手軟嚕^^
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