Li Na crashes out; Kvitova, Stosur move into final four – TEB BNP Paribas WTA Championships 2011
The 2011 WTA Championships underway in Istanbul saw two female tennis players’ advance into the semi finals. On Friday, October 28 Samantha Stosur (Australia) defeated Li Na (China) 6-1, 6-0. The 29-year old Chinese was having
a great run in the current tournament and after she defeated Maria Sharapova (Russia) on day 2 of the event, things were looking good for Li Na. However, on Friday, the fifth day of the tournament, it was the 27-year old Australian looking in top form.
The world number 7, Stosur, was dominant over world number 5, Li Na as soon as the match started. Stosur took the first set 6-1, which clearly showed that the Chinese was feeling a bit uncomfortable against the Australian. In the
second set, Stosur was totally dominating over Li Na for she scored a flawless 6-0 victory. On a whole, both players were head-to-head during their match. Li Na was not able to score an ace while Stosur could only deliver three.
Li Na was cautious for not undertaking quite a few double faults as she conceded only two while her opponent did double faults on four occasions, mainly due to her nervousness against a higher ranked opponent. Li Na was able to
save only three break points out of the nine she conceded, while Stosur saved three out of four. Li Na crashes out of the tournament after a comprehensive victory by Stosur, the 2011 US Open women’s single champion, who now advances into the semi finals of
the tournament.
In another match played on Friday, Marion Bartoli (France) faced Victoria Azarenka (Belarus). The 27-year old French player was unable to qualify for the semi finals but did play the match against the Belarusian Azarenka. Since
Sharapova quit the tournament due to her ankle injury, Bartoli replaced her, even though the French was not part of the top eight players. The world number 9, Bartoli, was looking good against world number 4, Azarenka, keeping in mind that for Bartoli winning
this match was of no importance. Still, the French won the match 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 with ten aces and saving three break points out of seven.
Bartoli did, however, played a few misdirected shots and her double faults were higher as compared to her opponent but Bartoli, finalist of the 2007 Wimbledon scored a decent victory. This proved to be a consolation win for the
French, as she needs to improve her game if she aims at improving her world ranking.
On Friday, the last match of the day was contested between Petra Kvitova (Czech Republic) and Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) which the Czech player won 7-6 (4), 6-3. The world number 3, Kvitova, who won an upset victory by defeating
world number one, Wozniacki on day 3, was playing with the semi final spot in her mind. In first set, the 22-year old Polish player was valiant in her attack as she was able to enter the set into a tiebreak but lost 6-7 (4). In the second set, 21-year old
Kvitova was playing exuberant shots as she saved five break points out of six while her opponent was unable to save any of the two breakpoints.
In the semi finals, Kvitova will face Stosur while Azarenka will play against Zvonareva.
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