After passing by the recovering Maria Sharapova and the injured Dinara Safina, Maria Kirilenko's luck turned south with the woman from the Far East, Jie Zheng, 1/6 3/6.
Jie faces Justine Henin in the semi-final.
Showing posts with label Women's Tennis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Women's Tennis. Show all posts
Monday, January 25, 2010
Henin ousts Petrova 7/6 7/5
Nadia Petrova had an amazing run in the 2010 Australian Open beating reigning US Open Champion Kim Clijsters and reigning French Open Champion Svetlana Kuznetsova. She was beaten by former world number one Justin Henin, 7/6 7/5, on her first major professional tennis competition after coming back from retirement.
Justine triumphed over fellow Belgians Kirsten Flipkens and Yanina Wickmayer, world number 5 Elena Dementieva, Alisa Kleybanova, and now Nadia Patrova to gain the first semifinal berth in the 2010 Australian Open.
Justine triumphed over fellow Belgians Kirsten Flipkens and Yanina Wickmayer, world number 5 Elena Dementieva, Alisa Kleybanova, and now Nadia Patrova to gain the first semifinal berth in the 2010 Australian Open.
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Safina out in 4th round with back issue
MELBOURNE, Australia -- Second-ranked Dinara Safina retired while she was down 4-5 at the Australian Open on Sunday, serving at 30-40 in the first set of her fourth-round match against Maria Kirilenko, who had ousted 2008 champion and fellow Russian Maria Sharapova in the first round.
No. 3 Svetlana Kuznetsova lost 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 to Nadia Petrova, who went into the match after a stunning 6-0, 6-1 third-round victory over U.S. Open champion Kim Clijsters.
While the seeded players dropped, former No. 1 Justine Henin continued her run in her first Grand Slam tournament in two years with a 7-6 (3), 1-6, 6-3 win over fellow Belgian Yanina Wickmayer, keeping her on track for a quarterfinal meeting with Petrova.
Safina, the 2009 Australian finalist who held the No. 1 ranking despite never winning a major, limped off when facing set point against Kirilenko when a back problem flared up.
Complete results
Need the scores from any match played in today's Australian Open? Results
"It was getting worse and worse, I have no idea how it happened. It was really terrible," said Safina, who saw her season last year end prematurely because of a back problem. "I turned to my coach and I said I cannot move anymore. It's shocking."
Petrova compared her wins over Clijsters and French Open champion Kuznetsova.
"Today was similar. I felt like my motivation, my concentration was on the same level," Petrova said.
The 27-year-old Russian doesn't think she's reached her potential yet -- her best runs in the majors finishing in semifinal losses.
"I know there's still a lot to accomplish," Petrova said. "That's what I'm really looking for."
Henin, who is unranked and playing on a wild-card entry in her second tournament since returning from a 20-month retirement, told the crowd she'd missed tennis too much to resist a comeback.
"It's been a great moment for myself," Henin said. "It's a great feeling to be back, been a great fight, and thank you."
The seven-time Grand Slam winner dominated the first-set tiebreaker after saving three set points in the 12th game. After dropping the second set, Henin broke Wickmayer's serve to open the deciding third set and was on top after that.
In an afternoon match, 2008 Wimbledon semifinalist Zheng Jie set another national mark by becoming the first Chinese player to reach the quarterfinals at Melbourne Park with a 7-6 (6), 6-4 victory over Alona Bondarenko. She next plays Kirilenko.
"I think Australia is lucky for me because I win the first Grand Slam doubles title in Australia," said Zheng, who won the Australian Open and Wimbledon doubles titles in 2006 with Yan Zi. "So I'm so happy I'm in the quarterfinal of Australia also."
She and No. 16 Li Na both reached the fourth round here, the first time two Chinese players have reached that stage at the same Grand Slam tournament. With one on each half of the draw, Zheng said they can both go further.
"But I think we can go the far way," she said. "I hope we can be in the semifinal for both Chinese players, yes."
Bondarenko, seeded No. 31, had been on an eight-match winning streak after a title run at Hobart last week, which included a quarterfinal win over Zheng.
Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press
http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/tennis/aus10/news/story?id=4853051
No. 3 Svetlana Kuznetsova lost 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 to Nadia Petrova, who went into the match after a stunning 6-0, 6-1 third-round victory over U.S. Open champion Kim Clijsters.
While the seeded players dropped, former No. 1 Justine Henin continued her run in her first Grand Slam tournament in two years with a 7-6 (3), 1-6, 6-3 win over fellow Belgian Yanina Wickmayer, keeping her on track for a quarterfinal meeting with Petrova.
Safina, the 2009 Australian finalist who held the No. 1 ranking despite never winning a major, limped off when facing set point against Kirilenko when a back problem flared up.
Complete results
Need the scores from any match played in today's Australian Open? Results
"It was getting worse and worse, I have no idea how it happened. It was really terrible," said Safina, who saw her season last year end prematurely because of a back problem. "I turned to my coach and I said I cannot move anymore. It's shocking."
Petrova compared her wins over Clijsters and French Open champion Kuznetsova.
"Today was similar. I felt like my motivation, my concentration was on the same level," Petrova said.
The 27-year-old Russian doesn't think she's reached her potential yet -- her best runs in the majors finishing in semifinal losses.
"I know there's still a lot to accomplish," Petrova said. "That's what I'm really looking for."
Henin, who is unranked and playing on a wild-card entry in her second tournament since returning from a 20-month retirement, told the crowd she'd missed tennis too much to resist a comeback.
"It's been a great moment for myself," Henin said. "It's a great feeling to be back, been a great fight, and thank you."
The seven-time Grand Slam winner dominated the first-set tiebreaker after saving three set points in the 12th game. After dropping the second set, Henin broke Wickmayer's serve to open the deciding third set and was on top after that.
In an afternoon match, 2008 Wimbledon semifinalist Zheng Jie set another national mark by becoming the first Chinese player to reach the quarterfinals at Melbourne Park with a 7-6 (6), 6-4 victory over Alona Bondarenko. She next plays Kirilenko.
"I think Australia is lucky for me because I win the first Grand Slam doubles title in Australia," said Zheng, who won the Australian Open and Wimbledon doubles titles in 2006 with Yan Zi. "So I'm so happy I'm in the quarterfinal of Australia also."
She and No. 16 Li Na both reached the fourth round here, the first time two Chinese players have reached that stage at the same Grand Slam tournament. With one on each half of the draw, Zheng said they can both go further.
"But I think we can go the far way," she said. "I hope we can be in the semifinal for both Chinese players, yes."
Bondarenko, seeded No. 31, had been on an eight-match winning streak after a title run at Hobart last week, which included a quarterfinal win over Zheng.
Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press
http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/tennis/aus10/news/story?id=4853051
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Epic Henin Win Over Dementieva
MELBOURNE, Australia -- Justine Henin, granted a wild-card spot at the Australian Open, advanced in her Grand Slam comeback with a 7-5, 7-6 (6) win over reigning Olympic champion Elena Dementieva.
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Torsten Blackwood/AFP/Getty ImagesJustine Henin's victory was another step toward a potential matchup with Kim Clijsters.
Henin, a seven-time Grand Slam singles champion, produced the biggest win of her return after 20 months in retirement with a 7-5, 7-6 (6) defeat of fifth-seeded Dementieva in the night match on Rod Laver Arena, the center court.
"It was very emotional for me on the court at the end because there was so much intensity," Henin said. "It's magical to win this kind of match in this kind of atmosphere."
Henin's win was another step closer to a possible quarterfinal match against U.S. Open champion Kim Clijsters, who scored a 6-3, 6-3 win over Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand.
It was Clijsters' U.S. Open title -- only three tournaments back from two years in retirement, during which she married and had a child -- that inspired Henin, her fellow Belgian, to return to the tour.
Against Dementieva, Henin had a match point at 5-4 and 40-30 but netted a forehand. Dementieva produced consecutive backhand winners to even the second set.
Henin again had a chance to serve for the match but was broken, with Dementieva forcing a tiebreaker and then leading 3-1. The Russian also had a set point in the tiebreaker before Henin won three straight points to finish it off in 2 hours, 50 minutes.
Henin said the appreciative crowd and the scope of her win made her happy she returned to the sport.
"The crowd gave me so much, so respectful at the end. That's why I probably came back on the tour, was to live this kind of match," Henin said.
Clijsters and Henin met in the Brisbane International final nearly two weeks ago, with Clijsters winning a close three-set match in Henin's first official tournament in her comeback.
Need the scores from any match played in today's Australian Open? "My attitude doesn't change because now I'm seen as one of the favorites," said Clijsters, who is 20-3 in her comeback. "To me, that doesn't mean anything."
Her next opponent will be No. 19 Nadia Petrova, one of the Russian women already into the third round. Petrova is joined by French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova, last year's Australian Open runner-up Dinara Safina andMaria Kirilenko.
Third-ranked Kuznetsova was first into the third round when she beat Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-2, 6-2.
Kuznetsova broke Pavlyuchenkova's serve twice to start and got on top of most rallies with a strong forehand and had 27 winners; Pavlyuchenkova had only seven.
Kuznetsova, who has two Grand Slam singles championships -- adding the French last year to her win at the 2004 U.S. Open -- has a chance to reach the No. 1 ranking for the first time if she takes the Australian Open title.
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Torsten Blackwood/AFP/Getty ImagesOn Day 3, Kim Clijsters improved to 20-3 since ending her retirement.
"Yes, definitely, I know all the way how to go -- I've done it twice," Kuznetsova said of her chances of winning a major. She's never gone past the quarterfinals in Melbourne.
No. 2 Safina had a 6-3, 6-4 win over Barbora Zahlavova Strycova -- saving four break points in the last game before serving it out.
Safina has held the No. 1 ranking but never won a major. She next plays Britain's Elena Baltacha, who has already equaled her best run at the season's first major by reaching the third round with a 6-2, 7-5 win over No. 30 Kateryna Bondarenko.
No. 16 Yanina Wickmayer, a Belgian who didn't get a seeding here because her suspension for a World Anti-Doping Agency "whereabouts rule" violation hadn't been overturned before entries closed, reached the third-round with a 7-6 (2), 6-1 win over No. 12 Flavia Pennetta of Italy.
No. 11 Marion Bartoli advanced with a 6-4, 6-4 victory against Sandra Zahlavova of the Czech Republic.
China's Zheng Jie won 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 over No. 24 Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain.
No. 4 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark, who lost the U.S. Open final to Clijsters, had a 6-4, 6-2 first-round win over Canada's Aleksandra Wozniak.
In other first-round matches carried over to Wednesday from the rain-interrupted opening days, No. 7 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus beat French wild card Stephanie Cohen-Aloro 6-2, 6-0; No. 9 Vera Zvonareva beat Kristina Kucova of Slovakia 6-2, 6-0; and No. 16 Li Na of China, a quarterfinalist at the U.S. Open, beat New Zealander Marina Erakovic 6-2, 6-0.
No. 22 Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia and No. 29 Shahar Peer of Israel also advanced.
Serena and Venus Williams won in doubles, starting the defense of their Australian title with a 6-1, 6-1 win.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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