Kaia Kanepi cripples Daria Gavrilova to reach the semi-final – OrtoLaakarit Open 2011
Top seeded Estonian Kaia Kanepi slew Russian qualifier Daria Gavrilova with a bagel at the OrtoLaakarit Open 2011, an ITF event taking place on the hard courts in Helsinki, Finland. She barely sweated in the opening set, registering
a 6-0, 7-6(2) victory over the 17-year-old Russian. By doing so, Kanepi not only advanced into the last four but also inched towards her maiden year-to-date title.
World number 34 Kanepi gave a top notch performance and crushed the qualifier, ranked 351 spots below her, on their first encounter. It took her one hour and twenty-three minutes to cruise past Gavrilova and secured a semi-final
place.
The Tallinn resident Kanepi breezed in the opening set and after unleashing flurry of groundstrokes, she quickly swiped in entire serves. The Estonian encountered zero breakpoint and cashed in half of the six breakpoint opportunities
to her advantage to hand a bagel to Gavrilova. She also formulated a higher first serve share of 64 percent as compared to the Russian’s 56 percent and registered a perfect 100 percent win on it.
The beaming Estonian carried the same spark in the final set and got the first blood in the second game to take a 2-0 lead. She lost her edge in the proceeding game but broke Gavrilova’s serve again in the fourth game and eventually
went 4-1 up. However, Kanepi lost her serve again in the seventh game and after exchanging another break in the, she took the set to a tie-breaker. After the Russian netter the opening point, Kanepi went into a six point killing spree before Gavrilova earned
another point. She eventually clinched the set with a 7-6(2) win.
Kanepi is currently enjoying her best career season as she reached her career high rank at 16 in February. She made semi-final berths at Paris WTA Premier and Biella ITF events. The Estonian then made a final showing at Moscow
WTA Premier (lost to eight seeded Slovak Dominika Cibulkova) before entering this ITF event in full confidence.
Next up for the highest ranked player of the tournament is the sixth seed Slovakia’s Jana Cepelova who also eased through a Russian qualifier, Alexandra Artamonova, in straight sets to reach this spot.
Second seeded Hungarian Timea Babos will also be joining the top seed in the last four. She trashed Swiss Amra Sadikovic by warding off all three breakpoints came across and by converting two out of nine breakpoint opportunities
to her advantage.
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