A Russian to Play a Serb at Pacific Open
Russia’s Maria Sharapova and Svetlana Kuznetsova booked all-Russian semifinal at the Pacific Life Open tennis tournament. But Vera Zvonareva yielded to top-seeded Serbian Ana Ivanovic, and it won’t be the Russian final in Indian Wells, California.
Both fourth-seed Maria Sharapova and second-seed Svetlana Kuznetsova won Wednesday to secure a stunning all-Russian semi-final at the Pacific Life Open tennis tournament in Indian Wells.
In the quarterfinals, the 2006 title-holder Sharapova clashed with defending champ Daniela Hantuchova. Maria dismissed the opponent in two sets 7-6(2), 6-1, continuing the perfect no-loss season of 18 matches, which includes the Australian Open and Doha titles
To book a battle with compatriot, Svetlana Kuznetsova outclassed (6-2, 6-4) tenth-seed Agnieszka Radwanska in the first quarterfinal standoff of the day. Svetlana said after the match that she had been more dictating the game, more focused and calm. Kuznetsova yielded to Radwanska in the third round of this year’s Australian Open.
Forecasting the winner wouldn’t be easy despite that Sharapova won the last two matches against Kuznetsova and has the record of 4-3 in their carrier series.
But the boldest hopes of the Russians didn’t materialized at Pacific Open, as it won’t be all-Russian final there. Top-seeded Ana Ivanovic easily prevailed over Vera Zvonareva (6-1, 6-4) to meet compatriot Jelena Jankovic in the Serbian semis.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Mar. 21, 2008
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