Long day at Amelia Island as quarters are set
There were quite a few long matches yesterday at Amelia Island, and now the quarterfinals are all set. The day began with #11 Amelie Mauresmo (2001 champion) upsetting #7 Agnieszka Radwanska 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(6). The two and a half hour match, in which Mauresmo saved a match point, gave the Frenchwoman her 500th career victory. She will now face Dominika Cibulkova, who upset #2 Anna Chakvetadze 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, in the quarterfinals. Cibulkova is an 18-year old from Slovakia who is currently ranked #34 in the world. She has steadily climbed the rankings, and is someone to watch out for in the near future. This should be a good match.
The next long match of the day took place between #1 Maria Sharapova and #15 Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain. What looked like an easy win for Sharapova turned out to be a three-hour and 27 minute marathon. Sharapova won the first set 7-6(3), and the went up 4-2 in the second set before Medina Garrigues found her rhythm and won the second set 7-5. In the third set, Medina Garrigues continued to play very well, going up 3-0 before Sharapova regained her stroke and went up 5-3. Sharapova then had two match points and couldn’t close it out either! The Russian finally won 7-6(3), 5-7, 7-6(1) to reach the quarterfinals. This was a really good test for Sharapova, considering she has been fatigued and hurt as of late. For her to be able to grind out a victory like this, it will only help her down the road. Her quarterfinal opponent will be #10 Alona Bonadrenko.
Bondarenko also needed three sets (surprise, surprise) to upset #6 Dinar Safina 7-6(5), 0-6, 7-5. Interesting scoreline to say the least. Like Sharapova, Bondarenko was also down in the third set before coming back to win. Safina held a 4-1 lead, and had won 10 of the 11 previous games, before Bondarenko prevailed. The last time Sharapova and Bondarenko played was at Indian Wells a couple of weeks ago, and Sharapova won that match in nearly three hours. So both girls could be in for another long day today.
The winner between Sharapova and Bondarenko will face either #8 Agnes Szavay or #16 Lindsay Davenport in the semifinals. Keeping with the theme, both Szavay and Davenport needed three sets to advance to the quarters. Szavay beat #12 Katarina Srebotnik 3-6, 6-2, 6-3 and Davenport eliminated Karolina Sprem 6-4, 3-6, 6-4. This will be the first career meeting between the 19-year old Szavay and the 31-year old Davenport. I would have to think that Davenport would be the favorite hear (especially with the American crowd in her corner). Plus, I am rooting for a potential Davenport/Sharapova semi!
The final quarter will take place between two girls who actually won their matches in straight sets!! What a thought! Thirteenth-seeded Virginie Razzano beat Olga Govortsova 6-2, 6-4. She will now face a fellow Frenchwoman, the very talented younster, Alize Cornet. After upsetting #9 Sybille Bammer in the second round, Cornet defeated Elena Vesnina 6-1, 7-5 to reach the quarters. We got a chance to see Cornet play in person for the first time a couple of weeks ago in Miami, and were very impressed. She moves extremely well, hits the ball solidly from both sides, but still needs to work on her serve. She is only 18-years old, so their is a very bright future hear for her.
What a crazy day in Florida yesterday! We can only hope that today is just as good!
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