Sport

Yan knocks out Jankovic

— Photo: K. Bhagya Prakash

SIZZLING RUN: Zi Yan shocked Jelena Jankovic in the quarterfinals.

Bangalore: The Canara Bank Bangalore Open’s marquee match will happen on Saturday though the final is scheduled only for Sunday. The Williams sisters — Venus and Serena — will clash in the singles semifinals here on Saturday.

“It would have been exciting if we had met in the final but now we have to give our best and one of us will go through,” Venus said. “Venus is a tough opponent and it would have been better if I played her later,” said Serena.

The sisters clashed last in the 2005 U.S. Open fourth round when Venus won 7-6(5), 6-2. They share a 7-7 record in their 14 matches. Their semifinal clash that looked imminent has now become a reality after they stamped their class in the quarterfinals here on Friday.

The second-seeded Venus defeated the seventh-seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva 6-4, 6-3 and the third-seeded Serena registered a facile 6-1, 6-4 victory over Russia’s unseeded Anastasia Rodionova.

Late in the night, top seed Jelena Jankovic of Serbia fell to China’s unseeded Zi Yan, ranked 55th. Yan’s persistent retrieval skills helped her win 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

“It was my fault that I lost. She kept the ball in play and my first serves were not working well. In the third set, my shoulder stiffened and I couldn’t accelerate my arm for my first serves,” a distraught Jankovic said.

The Serb did well to draw level in the second set but floundered again in the decider, trailing 0-4 before managing to break back in the fifth and seventh games. Though Jankovic staved off Yan’s two match points in the eighth game to make it 3-5, the Chinese player served out the match in the next game.

“This is definitely one of my big wins and it will be my first semifinal in a Tier II tournament,” Yan said.

Venus served better today and was a cut above Zvonareva who admitted it. “I played hard but I couldn’t match her game,” Zvonareva said.

Venus won the first set with ease though Zvonareva rallied to win three games in a row to make it 3-5. The second set also proved easy though Venus said that the match was closer than it appeared. “Some matches are closer than they look. I was serving better but she played hard,” Venus said.

Serena moved better and her brand of power tennis was too much for Rodionova who was swept aside in the first set. Though she did better in the second set, losing serve in the seventh game undid her ‘damage-control’ efforts.

Serena waved to the sparse crowd and then sent a ball soaring into the stands where a group of youngsters were rooting for her. “I was hitting better than what I did in my earlier match,” Serena said.

In the morning, the fourth-seeded Patty Schnyder of Switzerland ended Akgul Amanmuradova’s fairytale run. Schnyder won 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(1). Uzbekistan’s unseeded Amanmuradova threatened to extend her run against Schnyder, winning the first set and stretching her rival to six deuces before losing serve in the 10th game of the second set.

Schnyder drew level but was again hustled in the decider. The Swiss struggled with inconsistent forehands and her backhands were constantly under attack from Amanmuradova.

The Uzbek, however, had an erratic service game with nine double faults negating three aces. Schnyder erred on her forehand shot while leading 6-5 and having two match points with Amanmuradova serving at 15-40.

The set then went to a tie-breaker where it turned into an anti-climax as Schnyder blitzed through 7-1.

The results: Singles (quarterfinals): 4-Patty Schnyder (Sui) bt Akgul Amanmuradova (Uzb) 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(1); 2-Venus Williams (USA) bt 7-Vera Zvonareva (Rus) 6-4, 6-3; 3-Serena Williams bt Anastasia Rodionova (Rus) 6-1, 6-4; Jelena Jankovic (Srb) bt Zi Yan (Chn) 6-3, 3-6, 6-3.

Doubles (semifinals): 1-Yung Jan Chan & Chia Jung Chuang (Tpe) bt Ekaterina Dzehalevich (Blr) & Monica Niculescu (Rou) 6-1, 7-5.

© Copyright 2000 - 2009 The Hindu