Kaia Kanepi clinches a semi-final berth after dumping Tsvetana Pironkova – Brussels Open 2012
World number 25, Kaia Kanepi, continued her brilliant run of for this season and outmuscled the 24-year-old Bulgarian number one, Tsvetana Pironkova, in the quarter-final clash of the Brussels Open on Thursday. The eighth seed Estonian took merely 81 minutes of play to formulate a 6-3, 6-1, victory over her competitive rival, advancing into the semi-final draw of the WTA (Women’s Tennis Association) International Tour event in Brussels, Belgium.
It was the fifth combat in total between these two and Kanepi continued with her winning streak, hunting down the Bulgarian for the third consecutive time. The 26-year-old now leads 3-2 in the head-to-head series against Pironkova and is just a couple of steps away of clinching her third WTA championship title of the running season.
Kanepi coughed six double faults in the Thursday’s matchup but secured 23 out of 30 first serve points to keep the upper hand. She crafted a total of 12 break opportunities in the contest and converted five of them to route the Bulgarian out of the tournament in style. Pironkova could barely win four games in the entire matchup and came up with lone break point conversion in the opening set to finish on the losing side in the end.
"I don't feel bad at all," said the dejected Bulgarian. "Compared to my results coming here, this is very good. I had three good matches - even though I lost today, I think I played on a good level. Kaia just played too well today - good serve, good returning, just very solid."
The Estonian capitalised on most of her opportunities in the match and kept building pressure on her opponent, eventually forcing her to submit early. Kanepi’s mighty forehand worked perfectly for her and she nailed assertive winners on regular occasions to come out as the dominant winner.
"It was quite an interesting match - she had her opportunities, and the score didn't really say how tough it was," Kanepi said. "I was very aggressive from the baseline. I made shots I had to and didn't make mistakes at the wrong time."
Up next for Kanepi is the world number three, Agnieszka Radwanska, in the semi-final round of the Brussels Open. The top seed Pole contender had no difficulties at all in disposing of the local wildcard entrant, Alison Van Uytvanck, 6-2, 6-1, in the quarter-final round of the tournament. She will meet Kanepi for a spot in the title match on Friday afternoon.
Tags: