Quarterfinal upsets in Tokyo
Friday was the day of upsets at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo and top-seeded Jelena Jankovic, #3 Elena Dementieva, and #6 Aggie Radwanska all fell. Jankovic was beaten by #5 Svetlana Kuznetsova 2-6, 7-5, 7-5 in her first tournament since reaching the finals of the US Open. Kuznetsova will now face Katarina Srebotnik in the semis, as Srebotnik upset Dementieva 6-3, 6-4. Srebotnik is 2-1 against Kuznetsova, and just beat her at the US Open.
On the bottom half of the draw, the only seed that was expected to win, Dinara Safina, won her match over Kaia Kanepi 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-2. Safina will face fellow Russian Nadia Petrova in the semifinals. Coming the day after she beat Ana Ivanovic, Petrova beat Radwanska 6-3, 6-0. Petrova is 5-0 against Safina, but the two haven’t faced this year.
It is interesting that both Kuznetsova and Safina have losing records against their opponents, and yet both are going to be favorerd to win. I have to give the edge to Safina to win the tournament, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she was upset as well.
I really like Srebotnik. Good for her