Serena in Rome semis after seeing off Kirilenko
Source: Agencies |
May 7, 2010, Friday
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SERENA Williams had promised fans they would see a "sexy" Serena in the quarterfinals of the Italian Open in Rome after conceding she was still rusty from her long knee injury lay-off in her first two wins.
If the world No. 1 was referring to her tennis, rather than her lovely but not particularly raunchy pink outfit, she was true to her word.
The American produced a display of power and panache to dispatch Russian Maria Kirilenko 6-1, 6-4 yesterday and set up a possible semifinal showdown with her sister Venus in her first tournament since winning January's Australian Open.
Serena, the 2002 Italian Open champion, was in control from the off, rattling the Russian by standing forward on her serve and pouncing on any weak balls to drill home winning returns.
Her own serve was fearsome, zipping down at over 190 kmh on several occasions, and she notched seven aces.
Serena also showed she was in good physical shape, racing to the net to recover drop shots and tip them back for winners, as with the point that clinched the first set.
The only blot was that she allowed herself to be broken in the sixth game of the second set.
Fourth seed Venus, the 1999 champion who is also returning from injury, faces twice former champion Jelena Jankovic of Serbia later yesterday.
Unseeded Spaniard Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez is in the last four on the other side of the draw after beating Czech Lucie Safarova 7-6, 6-4.
Martinez Sanchez will meet the winner of the match between former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic and Russian 14th seed Nadia Petrova.
In Portugal, Roger Federer captured his first singles win of the season on clay by beating Bjorn Phau of Germany 6-3, 6-4 at the Estoril Open on Wednesday.
The world No. 1 conceded just 17 points on his service game as he rebounded from a first-round loss in Rome last week.
"It was a very important match for me today," Federer said.
Federer, who had a bye into the second round at Estoril, will meet Arnaud Clement of France in the quarterfinals. Federer won the Estoril crown in 2008 but skipped last year's event.
The Rome Masters, where he lost against 40th-ranked Ernests Gulbis, was Federer's first singles match in nearly a month. He took off several weeks after losing in the fourth round at Key Biscayne at the end of March.
Fourth-seeded Albert Montanes, the defending champion, ousted fellow Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-1, 6-2 and next encounters eighth-seeded Pablo Cuevas.
The Uruguayan overcame Marcel Granollers of Spain 7-6 (8), 7-6 (2).
Second-seeded Sorana Cirstea of Romania advanced in the women's event, triumphing 7-5, 7-5 over Michelle Larcher de Brito of Portugal.
Fourth-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain and seventh-seeded Peng Shuai of China also went through.
In Belgrade, Serbia, second-seeded John Isner of the United States made it to his first quarterfinals since February when he easily defeated Josselin Ouanna of France, 6-2, 6-4 at the Serbia Open yesterday.
In another second-round match, Richard Gasquet of France ousted eighth-seeded Andreas Seppi of Italy, a semifinalist last year, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5.
If the world No. 1 was referring to her tennis, rather than her lovely but not particularly raunchy pink outfit, she was true to her word.
The American produced a display of power and panache to dispatch Russian Maria Kirilenko 6-1, 6-4 yesterday and set up a possible semifinal showdown with her sister Venus in her first tournament since winning January's Australian Open.
Serena, the 2002 Italian Open champion, was in control from the off, rattling the Russian by standing forward on her serve and pouncing on any weak balls to drill home winning returns.
Her own serve was fearsome, zipping down at over 190 kmh on several occasions, and she notched seven aces.
Serena also showed she was in good physical shape, racing to the net to recover drop shots and tip them back for winners, as with the point that clinched the first set.
The only blot was that she allowed herself to be broken in the sixth game of the second set.
Fourth seed Venus, the 1999 champion who is also returning from injury, faces twice former champion Jelena Jankovic of Serbia later yesterday.
Unseeded Spaniard Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez is in the last four on the other side of the draw after beating Czech Lucie Safarova 7-6, 6-4.
Martinez Sanchez will meet the winner of the match between former world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic and Russian 14th seed Nadia Petrova.
In Portugal, Roger Federer captured his first singles win of the season on clay by beating Bjorn Phau of Germany 6-3, 6-4 at the Estoril Open on Wednesday.
The world No. 1 conceded just 17 points on his service game as he rebounded from a first-round loss in Rome last week.
"It was a very important match for me today," Federer said.
Federer, who had a bye into the second round at Estoril, will meet Arnaud Clement of France in the quarterfinals. Federer won the Estoril crown in 2008 but skipped last year's event.
The Rome Masters, where he lost against 40th-ranked Ernests Gulbis, was Federer's first singles match in nearly a month. He took off several weeks after losing in the fourth round at Key Biscayne at the end of March.
Fourth-seeded Albert Montanes, the defending champion, ousted fellow Spaniard Daniel Gimeno-Traver 6-1, 6-2 and next encounters eighth-seeded Pablo Cuevas.
The Uruguayan overcame Marcel Granollers of Spain 7-6 (8), 7-6 (2).
Second-seeded Sorana Cirstea of Romania advanced in the women's event, triumphing 7-5, 7-5 over Michelle Larcher de Brito of Portugal.
Fourth-seeded Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain and seventh-seeded Peng Shuai of China also went through.
In Belgrade, Serbia, second-seeded John Isner of the United States made it to his first quarterfinals since February when he easily defeated Josselin Ouanna of France, 6-2, 6-4 at the Serbia Open yesterday.
In another second-round match, Richard Gasquet of France ousted eighth-seeded Andreas Seppi of Italy, a semifinalist last year, 4-6, 6-2, 7-5.
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