BGL BNP Paribas Luxembourg Open and Kremlin Cup highlights
The fifth seed Daniela Hantuchova ousted Jill Craybas from the United States of America to advance further in the BGL BNP Paribas Luxembourg Open Women’s singles competition on Tuesday.
After dropping the opening ten games, Daniela just lost a single game the rest of the way in her two setter victory over Jill, who made it into the main draw as a lucky loser. The final match score was 7-5, 6-1. Hantuchova, as a result of this victory she
has improved her lifetime mark to 6-0 versus the American, with all six of the clashes being ended in straight sets.
Daniela after the match while commenting on her victory said, "The first match on a different surface is never easy. Jill is a good player with a lot of experience, so I was glad to win in two sets”.
Hantuchova, is coming off her quarter final appearance in Linz last week where she was defeated at the hands of ultimate finalist, Patty Schnyder. She is appearing in this tournament on the eighth occasion in her career with her best result being a final
show down back in 2007.
When asked about her overall performance throughout the season, Daniela added, "It has not been a disaster or a bad season. Also, it has not been great. I was almost injury-free, except for the shoulder now. I lost some clashes I should have won. It has
been okay".
Meanwhile, the top seed and 2008 champion, Elena Dementieva, at Luxembourg Open also won her opening round clash against Peng Shuai on Tuesday. The Russian, who will take part in next week’s year ending WTA tournament in Doha, was down 5-1 in the decisive
set, however, eventually held serve and sealed victory in two sets in the end. The final match score was 7-5, 7-6(3).
Other seeds, who advanced further in the tournament, were Aravane Rezai along with the seventh seed Jarmila Groth as well as Julia Goerges, who is seeded number eight to win the title.
Jarmila had the easiest victory of the trio, dispatching Tathiana Garbin in two sets. The final match score was 6-2, 6-2. The professional tennis player from Australia had been defeated in three of four clashes since capturing her first career crown in Guangzhou
back in September, however, yesterday she looked quite confident on the court.
Ana Ivanovic, who is coming off her title victory in Linz last week, will take on Johanna Larsson while Yanina Wickmayer will play Schnyder.
In other action in Moscow, the Russian tennis sensation, Anna Chakvetadze, upset the third seed Li Na to advance in the 2010 Kremlin Cup Women’s singles competition on Tuesday.
World number sixty-eight Anna, who was previously ranked as high as number five in the World, has been playing quite well over the last few months. She had no serious problems against World number eleven, Li Na, sealing victory in one hour and eighteen minutes
in Moscow. The final match score was 6-4, 6-2.
Li Na came in Moscow after making her way into the final four battle of her home tournament two weeks ago in Beijing. However, she looked simply helpless in her match against Anna on Tuesday and admitted the fact that she didn’t play well after her defeat.
Meanwhile, the seventh seed Alisa Kleybanova hammered down Lucie Safarova in three sets with a score line of 6-2, 6-7,(4) 7-6 (1). The sixth seed Maria Kirilenko looked more solid as she dominated in her match against Alexandra Dulgheru right from the start
on Tuesday. The final match score was 6-2, 6-2.
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