Wimbledon - Vera Zvonareva qualifies for the Semi’s
In another quarter final Russia's Vera Zvonareva wins the semi-finals spot after she defeated Kim Clijsters at Wimbledon. With the win over Clijsters, Vera has won her second semi-final squad in a Grand Slam tournament. The 21st seed won the match 3-6, 6-4 and 6-2. The Russian proved extremely dangerous in the court against the Belgian. Zvonareva played some brilliant shots on the court and troubled Clijsters. Clijsters game was not as it should have been; she was not playing well and missed a couple of shots in the court.
This was the sixth match between the players with Clijsters winning the previous five matches. Clijsters was playing her first match against Vera Zvonareva after her two years absence from tennis due to retirement. Clouds started to gather on the centre court as the match between the two started. Both the players made a stunning start. Clijsters earned the first point of the match after she hit a backhand volley straight down the line. The shot was magnificent and gave a boost to Clijsters confidence in the match. Zvonareva in return played a fine volley over the net and scored some positive points. The Belgian received a break point early in the game but she wasted it. Her last win over fellow Belgian Justine Henin had increased her chances over the Russian but still she was not able to prove as she was slow during the shots. She twice fouled in the game after hitting the net with her ground strokes.
The score at game 7 was tied as Clijsters kept on playing some hard shots towards Zvonareva. The Russian failed to hold back and double faulted which opened a path for the Belgian to take advantage and score. Clijsters earned the fifth break point of the day and hammered it away for a point. The first set started to shift in favour of the Belgian as she kept on closing the first set. At last after 38 minutes in the first game the former US Open Champion won the set 3-6 brilliantly.
As the second set started frustration started to grow upon the Russian. She became angry after missing a shot at break point by an inch. Zvonareva kept the score board ticking and lead the second set 3-1. She started to prove tough for Clijsters and kept on winning points. Zvonareva was soon broken at game nine and as a result the Belgian received a break point. But Clijsters returned back the favour as she herself double faulted which gave an advantage to the Russian. Zvonareva held the break point at 5-3 and sealed the set at 6-3 moving towards the final set.
In the final set both the players looked tense but Zvonareva soon held her grip on the match as she sharpened herself in the court. She began to play big forehand shots toward Clijsters as she at the moment dealt with errors. The Russian again earned two break points in the third game. Clijsters kept her hopes up in the game but still was not able to cut Zvonareva’s two set lead as the score became 3-1. Vera Zvonareva kept on showing her dominance in the court and won the next game leading 4-1. Clijsters won game 6, her last game of the match but after that got no chance as she racked up a total of 35 errors. Zvonareva remained calm in the rest of the match and at last closed the victory with a backhand winner.
After winning Vera Zvonareva said that she always dreamed to be here in the Wimbledon semi-finals. She also said that she hopes to win the title this year for her country and win her first Grand Slam title. The Russian will now play against Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova in the semi-finals.
Tags: