Pan Pacific & Thailand Open: Wednesday’s Review
The 2010 French Open Champion Francesca Schiavone toppled local favourite Kimiko Date Krumm in a two setter clash on Wednesday to make her way into the quarter-final of the Pan Pacific Open with a 6-3, 6-3 win.
Kimiko celebrated her birthday on Tuesday with a victory over Daniela Hantuchova in round two. However, she was no match for her fifth seed opponent from Italy.
Francesca got the better of Kimiko with the help of strong ground strokes, who broke her serve on three occasions in the opening set to secure a lead of 5-1.
“In the first set, I was leading 5-1 but every point was close. We were fighting for every single point and every game was very close, with lots of deuces. In the second set, when I broke for 4-3, was when I knew I could win,” said Francesca after the match on Wednesday.
Kimiko, who also bundled out last year’s winner Maria Sharapova in the opening round, battled back in the second set to earn a lead of 3-2. However, she was broken during the seventh game after which she never managed to recover. Date Krumm participated in Seoul last week and said that her back-to-back tournaments also added to her defeat on Wednesday. She didn’t feel hundred percent fit and ready against Francesca, who on the other hand made effective use of spin and made Krumm run all over the court during the match.
Date Krumm, who triumphed in the Tokyo Championship back in 1995, turned professional in 1989 but announced her retirement from the professional game of tennis back in 1996. 12 years later, she has made a comeback to professional tennis. Earlier this season, she registered her name as the oldest female tennis player to defeat a top 10 contender when she toppled Dinara Safina at the French Open in Roland Garros.
“I said to her at the end it was an honour to play her. I have followed her career and she is not just a great tennis player, she is a great person. To come back and show the people anything is possible is really inspiring. And today we were playing on the senior tour - we were seventy together,” Schiavone said on Wednesday.
Elsewhere, top seed Caroline Wozniacki from Denmark successfully made her way into the quarterfinals of the Pan Pacific Open after hammering down Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova from Russia in two sets. The final match score was 6-1, 6-2.
Caroline overpowered Anastasia on the fifth occasion in a row and third time this season. The Dane as a result of this victory will now play sixth seed Agnieszka Radwanska from Poland in the quarters. Agnieszka overpowered her German tennis opponent Andrea Petkovic 6-3, 6-3 to reach the quarters in Tokyo.
Caroline, while commenting on her performance after the match, said that she is quite satisfied with the way she battled and is looking forward to continue her form in the rest of the tournament as well.
In other clashes, Vera Zvonareva from Russia managed to defeat Italian tennis ace Roberta Vinci in two sets. The final match score was 6-4, 6-0. The second seed Vera will now take on Elena Dementieva in the quarters who defeated another Italian Flavia Pennetta with a final match score of 6-4, 6-2 earlier in the tournament.
Coco Vandeweghe, a qualifier from the United States of America thrashed Germany’s Julia Goerges 6-3, 6-0.
In other action, Jurgen Melzer from Austria advanced into his 10th quarterfinal of the season with a two setter victory over Dudi Sela at the Thailand Open on Wednesday. The final match score was 6-3, 6-4.
The third seed Jurgen, a semi-finalist in 2009, defeated Dudi for the third time just this year.
“Dudi is a tough opponent. He makes you play a lot of balls. He is very dangerous. I am pleased with the way I played today,” said the world number 13 after his match.
In today’s quarterfinals, he will either face seventh seed Viktor Troicki or Jarkko Nieminen from Finland.
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