Sport

Patty Schnyder beats Zi Yan to enter the final

— Photo: K. Gopinathan

IN COMMAND: Patty Schnyder stopped Zi Yan’s dream run.

Bangalore: Patty Schnyder brought Zi Yan’s rollicking journey in the Canara Bank Bangalore Open tournament to a halt here on Saturday night. In the singles semifinals at the KSLTA Courts, an aggressive Schnyder of Switzerland, the fourth seed, defeated Yan 6-3, 6-4.

Yan, who had upset the top-seed Jelena Jankovic in Friday’s quarterfinals, failed to keep up the momentum against Schnyder.

The Swiss’s positive intent helped against a doughty opponent, known for her retrieval skills.

Schnyder took calculated risks right from the opening game of the first set while Yan served, chipping-and-charging, and whipping a forehand cross-court to push Yan into the corner.

She got the break and led 2-0 before Yan’s resilience helped her break back and draw level at 2-2. Schnyder did have her moments; a peach of a passing shot that finely split the line in one of those nuanced rallies stood out. The fourth seed had another break in the fifth game. Her strategy of moving wide on Yan’s serve to create space for her forehand paid handsome dividends.

Meanwhile Yan relied largely on her bread-and-butter shot — the double-handed backhand — but was not averse to using the forehand as a surprise weapon to unsettle Schnyder’s rhythm.

In the second set, Schnyder grabbed the initiative with a break in the fourth game but Yan broke back in the fifth to make it 2-3. However, Schnyder’s forehands settled into a nice groove.

She broke in the eighth game, only to botch her next service game while serving for the match. At 5-4, on serve, another long match loomed but much to Schnyder’s relief, her rival’s icy demeanour cracked. Yan kept finding the net and lost her serve and match with a double fault.

“I was not lucky as yesterday,” Yan said.

In the final on Sunday, Schnyder will clash with the winner of the semifinal between the Williams sisters.

Earlier in an all-Chinese doubles semifinal, the third-seeded pair of Shuai Peng and Tiantian Sun defeated Chunmei Ji and Shengnan Sun 6-3, 6-2.

Peng and Sun lost the first two games of the opening set before winning the next five games in a row, including breaks in the fourth and sixth games, to stamp their authority and eventually won the set. In the second set, the duo continued to excel, moving in tandem, smashing the freebies at the net and also firing winners as Ji and Sun were often left stranded mid-court.

Peng and Sun did drop serve in the fourth game but they had breaks in the first, third and fifth games, and had no trouble in securing their berth in Sunday’s final against the top-seeded pair of Yung Jan Chan and Chia Jung Chuang.

The results (semifinals): Singles: 4-Patty Schnyder (Sui) bt Zi Yan (Chn) 6-3, 6-4. Doubles: 3-Shuai Peng & Tiantian Sun (Chn) bt Chunmei Ji & Shengnan Sun (Chn) 6-3, 6-2.

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