Tennis Pan Pacific and Malaysian Open 2010: Friday’s Review
World number two Caroline Wozniacki from Denmark withstood a late comeback to beat Victoria Azarenka from Belarus in a two-setter clash to advance into the final of the Pan Pacific Open Women’s competition on Friday. The final match score was 6-2, 6-7 (3), 6-4.
Caroline will face Elena Dementieva in the title battle after the Russian got the better of French Open winner Francesca Schiavone from Italy in a two-setter clash in the second semi-final on Friday. The final match score was 6-4, 7-5.
The top seed Caroline could overtake the American tennis star Serena Williams at number one in the WTA world rankings, if she manages to win the crown in Tokyo and advances into the quarter or better next week in Beijing.
The Dane took a lead of 5-0 in the third set before the eight seed Victoria closed the gap to 5-4. The number one seed Dane held serve and took the match when Victoria’s return went long.
“At 5-love, I felt really good, I thought the match was mine. Then Victoria started playing well and all of a sudden the score is 5-4, and I knew I had to close it out with my serve. The third set was really tough. It was like a new match, a new game,” said Caroline after the match on Friday.
Both the players struggled with their serve. Caroline had a total of four double-faults, whereas Victoria had twelve, including one that allowed the Dane to even the second set at 6-6.
Victoria won the tie-breaker to extend the match into a third set.
Azarenka, who had defeated Caroline on two occasions before, said it would have been hard to come back all the way from a deficit of 5-0.
“I may have come back from 5-1 or 5-2 before, but never 5-love. I lost my concentration, but it is hard to keep your concentration for that long,” explained Azarenka after the match on Friday.
Elena and Caroline are 3-3 in career matchups. The Dane has captured four WTA trophies this season, while Elena has grabbed two.
In other action in Kuala Lumpur, Tomas Berdych and Robin Soderling were both sent crashing out in the final eight of the Malaysian Open Men’s competition on Friday.
The top seed Robin never got going as Andrey Golubev from Kazakhstan ousted his Swedish opponent in two sets. The final match score was 6-3 6-2. The clash concluded in a time period of seventy one minutes in Kuala Lumpur.
And while the third seed Tomas put up a stiffer battle versus David Ferrer, the Czech tennis player was eventually undone by the fifth seed Spanish in three sets. The final match score was 4-6 7-5 6-4.
Russian pair Igor Andreev and Mikhail Youzhny will meet in the other semi final on Saturday.
Fourth seed Mikhail overcame 2006 Australian Open runner up Marcos Baghdatis from Cyprus 6-7 (5-7) 7-5 6-1, whereas Andreev dismissed his Canadian foe, Milos Raonic 6-1 3-6 6-3.
Golubev, who captured his first tour trophy in Hamburg three months ago, was in an impressive form versus Soderling, breaking the heavy-serving Swede on four occasions, whereas preventing all four breaks he faced.
The 23-year-old seems ready to quickly jump in the ATP ranking list from his current position at number forty one.
"I just tried my best but didn't expect to register a straight-set victory. I believe I can break into the top 20 soon and my performance here in Malaysia will give me some extra confidence,” he conceded after the match on Friday.
Meanwhile, David's win was his fourth in a row and fifth in seven encounters versus Tomas.
Despite going a set down, David broke Tomas in the twelfth game of the second to tie the clash, however then lost his serve to trail 4-3 in the final.
However, the Spaniard broke right back and sealed the match when Tomas double-faulted on match point.
Tags: