2010 Toray Pan Pacific Open: Schiavone defeats local favorite Date Krumm, advances to quarterfinals
The Italian, Francesca Schiavone ended Kimiko Date Krumm’s unexpected win streak today at the 2010 Toray Pan Pacific Open with straight sets 6-3, 6-3. With this victory, Schiavone, who is also this year’s women’s singles French Open champion, progressed
to the quarterfinals of the WTA tour event.
Krumm’s progress in the tournament was remarkable in itself. She is the second oldest player on the WTA listings to have ever won a WTA title with her 2009 victory at the Hansol Korea Open in Seoul. After having retired in 1996, the Japanese player made
a comeback to the game in 2008 at the age of 37. Her last victory at the Toray Pan Pacific Open was in 1995 when she had seized the title.
Kimiko Date turned 40 on Tuesday. On Monday, she had enjoyed an unanticipated victory over former World Number 1, Maria Sharapova. The home veteran defeated 23-year-old Sharapova in a three set upset, causing the Russian to issue a statement saying, “Kimiko
was a new opponent for me so I had to try and figure her out. She stays low and likes the ball hit hard at her, and then she steps in and changes direction. She did that really well.”
After defeating Sharapova, who was the defending champion of the event, Date Krumm went on to celebrate her 40th birthday on Tuesday by defeating Daniela Hantuchova, albeit in a walkover. The match seemed to be going to Hantuchova, when Date Krumm
recovered from a 2-6 set to win the next 10 games, forcing her opponent to drop out 4-0 in the third set. Following this match, Krumm told reporters, “It's a miracle that I was able to stand up after yesterday's match. Maybe some luck rubbed off on me because
it was my birthday”.
But while Date Krumm’s performances have so far been commendable, she was no match for Schiavone, the fifth seed at this tournament. The Italian’s strategy seemed to be overpowering Date Krumm while utilizing her strong ground strokes and breaking serve
thrice. This enabled her to take a 5-1 lead. "In the first set, I was leading 5-1 but every point was close," commented Schiavone, while later analyzing the match. “We were fighting for every single point and every game was very close, with lots of deuces."
Although, Krumm did her best to recover from the first set, but the best she managed was a momentary 3-2 lead in the second set. She has had a busy schedule over the past few days. "This morning, I felt a little bit tired," she said. "She [Schiavone] used
a lot of spin and made me run very wide so I ended up tired." Schiavone herself was elated to play the legendary Kimiko Date Krumm, who earlier this year, also became the oldest woman to have ever defeated a top ten player with her victory over Dinara Safina
at the French Open.
Schiavone said, “"I said to her at the end it was an honor to play her. I've followed her career and she's not just a great tennis player but also a great person. To come back and show the people anything is possible is really inspiring. And today we were
playing on the senior tour - we were 70 together!"
Meanwhile, other players to make it to the quarter finals include Caroline Wozniacki, who is the top seed at this tournament. She defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova for the fifth consecutive time and will now compete against the sixth seed Polish, Agnieszka
Radwanska. The U.S. Open finalist, Vera Zvonareva defeated Roberta Vinci from Italy to compete in a quarter final match against fellow Russian, Elena Dementieva. The American, Coco Vandeweghe also made it to the quarters with her defeat of German, Julia Goerges.
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