Carla Suarez Navarro upsets Kaia Kanepi in the semi-final round – Portugal Open 2013
Defending champion, Kaia Kanepi, was going extremely well on her Portugal Open campaign until she suffered a stunning defeat at the hands of the Spanish veteran, Carla Suarez Navarro, in the semi-final round on Friday. The world
number 23, Navarro, spent merely 66 minutes to wrap up the proceedings in straight sets, 6-4, 6-1, to earn a title shot at this WTA clay-court championship in Oeiras, Portugal.
Kanepi hadn’t lost a single set en route to the semis but she couldn’t display her best game against the 24-year-old Spanish. She had defeated Navarro in their last two encounters and was anticipated to extend her winning streak
on Friday afternoon as well. However, a solid display of high quality tennis from the Spaniard brought her at 2-2 in the all-time head-to-head series against Kanepi.
"I had last year's match in my mind," Suárez Navarro said. "She started so strong today and I was a little bit nervous, but after the first few games I changed a few things and played well the rest of the match - I was really concentrated
on returning well because she serves so well, and I also had some really good points on my serve. I was aggressive and very focused in the most important points. I'm happy to be in the final again - it's another chance at the title."
The Estonian number one, Kanepi, drew first blood in the second game of the match to gain a 2-0 lead right away. She was brought down immediately by a break point conversion from her Spanish rival in the very next game and the
scores tied at 2-2. Navarro registered another breakthrough in the fifth game and took the score line to 4-2 in her favour. An exchange of break points from both contestants was seen in the eighth and ninth games but it was the Spaniard who claimed the opener
at 6-4 in the end.
The following set was an all-Spanish show, with Navarro nailing three cracking breaks of serve to drive the defending champion out of the tournament. She concluded the match with a breadstick, 6-1, to earn a title match against
Russian youngster, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
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