Pilot Pen 2010: Caroline Wozniacki in the semis
Caroline Wozniacki got a good opportunity to rest her body and mind on Thursday after her quarter-final opponent Flavia Pennetta withdrew from the Pilot Pen 2010 as a result of a foot injury in New Heaven.
Caroline, who will be the favourite to win the title at Flushing Meadows, starting from this Monday, won the Rogers Cup before coming to New Heaven for her final United States Open warm up event.
The Italian tennis star, Flavia Pennetta was hesitant to withdraw from the competition. However, Pennetta said that she didn’t want to miss the upcoming final major of the season and therefore wants to rest her body for the Flushing Meadows.
"I never wanted to pull out however my foot didn’t allow me to further continue playing in the rest of the tournament as I was aware of the fact that I won’t be able to finish off my clash, “said Pennetta after her announcement on Thursday.
"I took this decision as I didn’t want to further risk my foot for any big damage prior to the United States Open tennis championship. As there is no stress fracture so after a day or two rest and with the help of physiotherapy, I will be able to come out strongly at the Flushing Meadows starting from 30th of this month,” she added.
Dane Caroline, last season’s Pilot Pen winner, was joined by three other Russian tennis players for the semi-finals.
Elena Dementieva, a fourth seeded Russian, claimed a 6-3, 3-6 and 6-2 victory over her French tennis opponent Marion Bartoli in a time of three hours on Thursday. Eight seeded Nadia Petrova on the other hand also reached the semi-final of the competition after thrashing out her Australian opponent Samantha Stosur in a total of two sets in New Heaven. The final match score was 6-2 and 6-1.
Maria Kirilenko in her quarter-final battle also did well to outlast former top ranked tennis player, Dinara Safina in a two setter clash on Thursday. The final match score was 6-3 and 6-3.
In the men's draw, Sergiy Stakhovsky from Ukraine defeated top seeded Marco Baghdatis from Cyprus in a total of three sets. The final match score was 5-7, 6-1 and 7-6.
Thiemo de Bakker from Netherlands also claimed an easy 6-4 and 6-3 win over Evgeny Korolev where as the fifteen seeded Denis Istomin from Uzbekistan toppled Teimuraz Gabashvili from Russia in a three setter clash on Thursday. The final match score was 6-1, 3-6 and 7-6.
Viktor Troicki defeated Radek Stepanek 6-2, 6-3 in another quarter-final clash in New Heaven.
In the doubles matches, top seeded Nenad Zimonjic as well as Daniel Nestor was upset by Andy Ram and Julian Knowle in the quarter-final match of the Pilot Pen in a total of three sets on Thursday. The final match score was 6-7(2), 7-6(7), 10-4
Wimbledon 2010 finalists Horia Tecau and Robert Lindstedt triumphed in back-to-back clashes on the very first occasion during the summer hard court season. They defeated last week’s ATP Cincinnati Masters semi-finalists d**k Norman and Wesley Moodie in a two setter clash. The final match score was 7-6(6) and 6-2.
Max Mirnyi and Mahesh Bhupathi on the other hand also made their way into the semi-final round of the Pilot Pen doubles event with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Pablo Cuevas and Juan Ignacio Chela. The Max-Mahesh pair recently finished as runner ups at the ATP Cincinnati Masters tennis tournament 2010 to the Bryan brothers.
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