Paris, Pattaya City: Semifinals Set
Posted by gauloises1 on February 13, 2010
For the first time since the tournament’s inception, there won’t be a Frenchwoman in the quarterfinals in Paris. Second seed Flavia Pennetta beat compatriot Tathiana Garbin, 61 63, to book her spot and will face Lucie Safarova, who demolished sixth seed Shahar Peer 63 60. As my wise friend Jacko would no doubt point out, the fast courts in Paris are made for Safs, and you can’t deny she has oodles of talent … but why does she only show up once in a blue moon? Answers on a postcard.
The other semifinal is a US Open rematch between Elena Dementieva and her spunky kryptonite, Melanie Oudin. Dementieva survived a tough challenge from Andrea Petkovic (now undoubtedly out getting drunk as we speak, and rightly so).
I would have given anything to be able to illustrate this result with a picture of Petkovic miming shooting herself in the head, by the way. Just putting it out there.
Melanie Oudin, meanwhile, continues her upwards momentum. She’s now won her last five matches after coming back from 26 13 down against Agnes Szavay to win 62 in the third. It was another inspiringly gutsy performance, as she was complaining of being ill during the first set and, more significantly, being comprehensively outplayed by Szavay before she clawed her way back in to the match and managed to exert just enough pressure to provide Szavay with an excuse to fall apart. By the third set, both were completely different players, and at least Melanie was moving in the right direction.
In Pattaya City meanwhile, a.k.a the Land that Photojournalists Forgot, hometown girl Tamarine Tanasugarn put an end to Anna Chakvetadze’s two-match streak and will face Sesil Karantcheva in the first semi. In the second, it’ll be Vera Zvonareva against Yaroslava Shvedova. Fair and balanced.
Full Results
Paris
Singles – Quarterfinals
(1) Elena Dementieva (RUS) d. Andrea Petkovic (GER) 36 64 62
(2/WC) Flavia Pennetta (ITA) d. Tathiana Garbin (ITA) 61 63
Lucie Safarova (CZE) d. (6) Shahar Peer (ISR) 63 60
Melanie Oudin (USA) d. Agnes Szavay (HUN) 26 64 62
Doubles – Semifinals
(2) Benesova/Zahlavova Strycova (CZE/CZE) d. Govortsova/Poutchek (BLR/BLR) 63 63
Pattaya City
Singles – Quarterfinals
(1) Vera Zvonareva (RUS) d (5) Sybille Bammer (AUT) 60 76(5)
(4) Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ) d. Tatjana Malek (GER) 76(4) 61
Tamarine Tanasugarn (THA) d. Anna Chakvetadze (RUS) 61 64
Sesil Karatantcheva (KAZ) d. Ekaterina Bychkova (RUS) 75 46 75
Doubles – Semifinals
Erakovic/Tanasugarn (NZL/THA) d. (1) Rodionova/Rodionova (AUS/RUS) 61 64
Order of Play
Paris
Central (from 13.30hrs)
1. Lucie Safarova vs. Flavia Pennetta
2. Elena Dementieva vs. Melanie Oudin (NB 15.30hrs)
3. Black/Huber vs. Jans/Rosolska
Pattaya City
Court 1 (from 15.00hrs)
1. Sesil Karatantcheva vs. Tamarine Tanasugarn
2. Vera Zvonareva vs. Yaroslava Shvedova
3. Chakvetadze/Pervak vs. Craybas/Goerges
linz said
-Mel has some GUNS. Love it. Also, she needs to continue her Russian demolition she started at the USO- that’s who’s up next in Fed Cup!
-I know people have commented before, but I thought I’d mention once again how horrible Lucie’s kit is.
-She and Berdie are very similar in how they both only really show up for a couple of tournaments a year. Just enough to stay slightly relevant. I think it’s annoying.
-This “(1) Rodionova/Rodionova (AUS/RUS)” is very confusing. Does anyone have an explanation?
-I’m so glad you exist. Otherwise I would have no clue what’s going on with the ladies (or any tourney other than San Jose) this week.
-I’m not sure why I made this comment in bullet points.
gauloises1 said
Hmmm … perhaps it’s a typo for ‘Rodionova/Rodina (AUS/RUS)’?
*proud of own logical explanation*
linz said
you’re so smart. i was hoping for a more exciting explanation though.
greenhopper said
No, it’s the Rodionova sisters. Anastasia, the older one [http://twitter.com/arodionova] recently got Aus citizenship and is reaaaallly excited about it.
meretricula said
re: Rodionova/Rodionova, they’re sisters, from Russia originally, and one of them just got Australian citizenship – I think she has an Australian boyfriend or something. there was a thing on the WTA site about it before the AO. (slow news week I presume.)
gauloises1 said
Oh, really? I remember Rodionova getting Australian citizenship over the break, but I don’t like her overly so I didn’t bother reading anything about it. Disgrace to the noble name of blogger that I am.
meretricula said
random thing to notice, but Tathiana Garbin is Italian, not French – maybe you were thinking of Golovin?
gauloises1 said
Owww, that’s embarrassing.
What makes it worse is that I was boasting elsewhere today about having finally conquered my inability to remember whether Tathiana Garbin is Italian or French.
And I wasn’t even drunk when I wrote this post. I am deeply shamed.