| Two Russians reached the quarterfinals of the prestigious tournament At the first-category BTA women's tennis tournament with a prize fund of $3.06 million in Miami, two Russians reached the quarterfinals. Today Nadezhda Petrova will meet with Frenchwoman Nathalie Dechy, and Elena Dementieva will have a difficult duel with the second racket of the competition, American Venus Williams.
Petrova crushed Australian Alicia Molik on Tuesday night Moscow time - 6:2, 6:1. For this, our tennis player needed only 55 minutes. Nadezhda’s rival has never had stars in the sky before; rather, she is considered a strong middling player and ranks 30th in the world classification, having only one title to her name, won at last year’s home tournament in Hobart. Dementieva had to take the court against Elena Dokic for the eighth time in her professional career. She once also represented Australia, but then began to defend the colors of Serbia and Montenegro. In the previous five fights, the Russian woman invariably lost to her namesake. On the court in Miami, this sad streak has finally stopped. At first Dementieva made unforced errors and lost in the first set, but then she restructured her game, became more attentive and collected, forcing Dokic to make mistakes. As a result, the Muscovite prevailed in three sets - 5:7, 6:1, 6:3.
Considering the chances of reaching the semifinals, of our two compatriots, preference should be given to Petrova. She has a higher seeding number and a psychological advantage. In January of this year, Nadya had the opportunity to become better acquainted with Deshi’s playing style in a head-to-head meeting on hard court and defeated the Frenchwoman during one of the tournaments on the Green Continent. According to our preliminary calculations, even in the event of today’s failure, Petrova should take a place in the top ten of the BTA rankings for the first time in her career.
Dementieva will have a much more difficult time. Starting from the decisive match of the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Lena could not cope with the power of Williams Sr. three times in a row. Venus in Miami has not yet lost a single set to her opponents and is eager to play a family final against her sister.
Serena is also heading full steam ahead towards the title showdown. The winner of these competitions of the last two years, with a victory over Maria Sharapova - 6:4, 6:3, brought her unbeaten streak on the Miami courts to 15 matches. The 17-year-old Russian was able to impose a decent fight on the first seed. Both athletes accompanied each blow with loud screams and acted beautifully and spectacularly. Sharapova even led in the first set, then gave the initiative to Serena, and with the score 3:4 she could make a break and create serious intrigue at the end of the game. Maria lacked precision in her shots; the ball hit the net too often. Williams effectively used her main trump card - a powerful serve. The skinny Sharapova rarely managed to cope with receiving a ball flying at a speed of about 150 km per hour.
“Despite the fact that Serena missed eight months, she did not lose her champion qualities,” Sharapova spoke respectfully of her opponent. “Williams Jr. is still very strong, she is terribly difficult to play with.” The American herself is still cautious about her return: “I feel like I’m improving with every match. I can withstand such a busy tournament schedule for another three or four days. True, it is not yet possible to perform well in all elements of the game. There is still some feeling of constraint.”
Svetlana Kuznetsova also stopped fighting in singles. Croatian Carolina Sprem is rapidly rushing into the world elite and has already won a number of victories over tennis players who are much higher than her in the world classification. She defeated Kuznetsova with a score of 3:6, 7:5, 6:4. In the quarterfinals last night, Sprem played with the Greek Elena Danilidou, and the other pair of the match day on Tuesday was Williams Jr. and another American, Jill Craybas, only the 73rd racket in the world. Ilya TRISVIATSKY |
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