Ekaterina Semenova upsets Ani Amiraghyan to reach the main draw – Siberia Cup 2011
Un-ranked local star, Ekaterina Semenova, battled past Armenian number one, Ani Amiraghyan in a see-saw match at the Siberia Cup 2011, the last ITF Women’s Circuit event of 2011 which is held in Tyumen, Russia. She clobbered a
7-5, 0-6, 6-0 victory over the Armenian to secure a spot in the main draw on Sunday.
The Russian rising star, Semenova, triumphed over the qualifying top seed, ranked 551st in the Sony Ericsson WTA Premier Rankings, on their first face-to-face meeting. After earning this success, she not only secured
a main draw spot but also found the track to win her maiden career title.
The 17-year-old starlet confidently entered the Russian indoor hard courts and smoothly plucked in entire serves through blistering forehands from her arsenal of skills. She then edged over Amiraghyan by cashing in the only break
chance in the last game. In addition to this, Semenova blocked all three breakpoints she came across and committed fewer unforced errors.
The highest ranked player of the qualifiers, Amiraghyan, re-structured her strategy in the second set. She went into overdrive mode and displayed her top notch performance to earn a bagel. The Armenian dusted away all breakpoints
faced and cashed in half of the six break opportunities.
After an incredible six games winning spree, the qualifying seed ran out of steam. The Russian on the other hand took full advantage of it and unleashed flurry of groundstrokes to strike out next six games consecutively, pocketing
a bagel. Semenova faced no breakpoints and converted all three break chances to her advantage.
With help from the home crowd, Semenova snapped out from her three match losing streak by upsetting qualifying eighth seed Ganna Piven. She then dumped her compatriot Anastasia Rudakova in the second round of qualifiers, winning
two matches in a row for the first time in her career and setting up this epic battle.
Next up for the high spirited Russian is the Ukrainian Lyudmyla Kichenok.
Olga Doroshina will join her countrywoman, Semenova, in the main draw. She eased past her compatriot, Mayya Katsitadze, in straight sets to reach this spot. The un-ranked Doroshina took less than hour to stomp over Katsitadze on
their first duel with each other. The winning Russian broke Katsitadze’s serve four times and lost her serve once, sealing the deal with a 6-3, 6-2 score line.
Doroshina will face Marina Melnikova in the first round of this first edition of the tournament.
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