Stosur advances at Stanford
Australian Samantha Stosur came away with a victory over American qualifier Christina McHale at Stanford, California, with a 6-1, 7-5 victory on Wednesday. This was Stosur’s first match since getting the number five ranking in the world.
“The high ranking feels good,” Stosur commented. “It was a goal for me to get to no. 10. Once I got to that point, all of a sudden I moved up to number five. To have another big jump like that so soon is really pleasing.
“It’s not like I have changed anything dramatically overnight. It’s just a combination of everything that I have been doing over the past few years and now it’s all coming together. Once you produce some good results, it instills more belief. But I haven’t changed anything in my game. I have still been working on the same things, just getting better at them.”
The top-seeded Stosur took just over an hour to beat McHale, who is currently ranked at 161st in the world. Stosur finished with a total of eight aces, winning 76 per cent of her first-serve points.
Radwanska and Wickmayer advance
Also advancing at Stanford were Poland’s third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska and No. 7 ranked Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium. Radwanska beat out Ukrainian qualifier Olga Savchuk with a score of 7-6 (4), 6-2, while Wickmayer commanded Slovakia’s Dominika Cibulkova with an outstanding 6-1, 6-4 victory.
Stosur is now set to face Wickmayer in the quarterfinals on Friday, while Dementieva will play the winner of Thursday’s match between Olga Govortsova and Maria Sharapova. Sharapova recently came off a disappointing loss at Wimbledon, and is looking to boost her confidence and morale with victories at smaller tournaments.
Dementieva toughs it out despite injury
In her comeback tournament after suffering from injury, Elena Dementieva was forced into a strenuous battle to fight off Japanese tennis veteran Kimiko Date Krumm in the first round of the Bank of the West Classic on Wednesday.
Dementieva recently recorded her first absence at a Grand Slam in more than 10 years, after missing Wimbledon due to an injury to her left calf. The Russian was far below her best performance playing against the 39-year-old Date Krumm. Despite the setback, Dementieva persevered, going on to win 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
The second-seeded Dementieva admitted: “It’s never easy to play without competition for two weeks and it took me a while to get into the game. Sometimes it’s good to go three sets and to face those difficult moments while finding a way to win.”
Dementieva avoided being the first seeded player to fall in the tournament by winning 12 of the final 17 games. The two players totaled a combined 13 of 28 on break points.
Date Krumm reached her career-best of number thre in 1995, four years prior to Dementieva turning pro in 1999. The Japanese player returned to the tour last year, following an extended 12-year absence.
“She played fast and hit the ball flat,” Dementieva commented. “She’s just a great athlete. It’s amazing how she played and what great shape she is in.”
Date Krumm keeps it up
Date Krumm retired from professional tennis in 1998, only to announce her return to the game twelve years later in 2008 at the age of 37. She then became the second oldest player after Billie Jean King on the WTA tour to win a singles title, following her title trophy at the Hansol Korea Open in 2009.
Date Krumm has played considerably well this year, having defeated world No. 9 Dinara Safina in the first round of the French Open with a 3-6, 6-4, 7-5 victory. This win was the first victory for Date Krumm at a Grand Slam event since 1997.
Although she has been ousted from Stanford by losing to Dementieva, Date Krumm continues to impress with her perseverance and longevity in the game.
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