Japan Open and Generali Ladies Linz; Friday’s Review
The forty year old Kimiko Date Krumm stunned her Australian opponent, Samantha Stosur when she reached the semi final round of the 2010 Japan Open Women’s singles competition on Friday. The final match score was 5-7, 6-3, 7-6(4).
The sixth seed Kimiko lost the opening set but strongly came back in the following to take a lead of 6-3. The top seed and last year’s champion failed to bounce back in the match after losing the second set at the hands of Kimiko
on Friday.
After the match when commenting on her victory Date Krumm said, “I played very hard. Stosur is a very good contender and she is different from the others as she has a very good serve and is very quick. I had to run a lot today
however I was focused and knew I had nothing to lose."
The former world number one Stosur on the other hand while commenting on her loss said that she had some chances to come back into the game, however unexpectedly Kimiko played really well with a tremendous level of speed and movement
on the court.
Earlier this year, Kimiko made history as the oldest contender to topple a top ten opponent, with her win over Dinara Safina in the French Open at thirty nine year of age. As a result of this victory, Kimiko has broken her own
record on the tour.
Next up for Kimiko is the third seed Shahar Peer, who made her way into the semi final round in Osaka after getting past her seventh seed foe, Iveta Benesova in two sets. The final match score was 6-2, 6-0. Shahar currently leads
their head to head battle at 1-0.
Meanwhile, the second seed Marion Bartoli also successfully made her way into the semi final round after posting a two setter victory over Jill Craybas on Friday. The final match score was 6-1, 6-2. She fired a total of six aces
on her way into the final four battle in Osaka. Marion will be competing in her third semi final round of the year. She previously reached the final four in Miami as well as Eastbourne, falling to Venus Williams and Victoria Azarenka respectively.
Marion, will next take on Tamarine Tanasugarn, who reached the semi final after beating Chang Kai-Chen in three sets. The final match score was 6-3, 2-6, 6-4. Tamarine will be playing in her second final four battle in 2010, having
gone that far previously in Pattaya City, where she ended as finalist to her Russian opponent, Vera Zvonareva in straight sets. Marion leads Tamarine in their head to head battle at 2-1.
In other action in Linz, Ana Ivanovic dispatched off Julia Goerges in the quarter final round of the Generali Ladies Linz singles competition to confirm her semi final spot on Friday. The final match score was 7-6, (6) 6-2.
Ana after the match while commenting on her opponent said on Friday, "She is a very hard opponent. It was a close match and the first set was decided by a few points here and there. I was serving at 5-3 however I couldn’t take
any benefit from the chance, however, she Julia had a set point at 6-5 in the tie-break and I had a huge serve."
Ana, as a result of this victory will next play Roberta Vinci, who bounced back from 3-1 down during the decisive set against her Italian foe, Sara Errani on Friday. The final match score was 5-7, 6-3, 6-4.
Meanwhile, Patty Schnyder toppled her second seed opponent, Daniela Hantuchova in a two setter clash with a score line of 6-4, 6-4, where as the sixth seed Andrea Petkovic ended the tournament’s campaign of Eleni Daniilidou in
straight sets. The final match score was 6-3, 6-2.
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