Translated material
Your own game
Dinara Safina reached the semifinals of the US Open
Russian Dinara Safina reached the semifinals of the US Open tennis championship. In the quarterfinals, Marat's younger sister Safina beat Italian Flavio Pennetta - 6:2, 6:3.The only thing that caused concern before the upcoming meeting was Safina’s physical condition. This season, the Russian woman played 58 matches, including the Federation Cup, 20 of them over the last six months, including at the Olympic tournament. In this situation, there was one consolation: Flavia Pennetta was a convenient opponent for Safina. In four previous meetings, the Russian had the upper hand, and twice she defeated the Italian already this year. In addition, the rest day at the US Open clearly benefited Safina, which was clearly confirmed by the result. And after the match, the Russian woman did not hide the fact that, perhaps for the first time at this tournament, she was able to demonstrate the game that she should. “I played aggressively, I attacked all the time, I think I played my game today,” she said.
Safina's next opponent will be American Serena Williams, who won a family duel with her sister Venus. This whole match resembled a see-saw, in which the initiative passed from one of the sisters to the other. But at the end of the games Serena turned out to be stronger, who eventually celebrated the victory - 7:6 (8:6), 7:6 (9:7). “Serena played really well,” Venus Williams commented on the outcome of the match. “She fought for every ball, and it was very difficult for me to resist her. Unfortunately, our meeting took place at an early stage. I have emphasized more than once that I am pleased to play with my sister in the final matches. But in this situation we could not change anything.” “For me this match was like the final. And I still can’t believe that I won. Venus is an excellent tennis player with a very strong serve. Throughout the match I tried to fight with her and in the end I achieved my goal,” Reuters quoted Serena as saying.
Thus, all the semifinalists of the US Open became known among women - Russians Elena Dementieva and Dinara Safina, Elena Jankovic from Serbia and American Serena Williams. For men, only one pair of semi-finalists was determined, which was the Briton Andy Marey and the first racket of the world, Spaniard Rafael Nadal. In the quarterfinals, Nadal beat the host of the court, Murdy Fish - 3:6, 6:1, 6:4, 6:2, and Murray defeated the Argentinean Juan Martin del Potro in a difficult four-hour match - 7:6 (7:2), 7:6 (7:1), 4:6, 7:5.
By the way, del Potro was part of the Argentinean team quartet that will play against the Russian four in the Davis Cup final on September 19-21. In addition to him, David Nalbandian, Augustin Callieri and Guillermo Cañas were included in the Argentina national team.
A week earlier, the final of the women's team tournament of the Fed Cup will be held in Spain, where the national teams of Spain and Russia will meet. The captain of the Russians, Shamil Tarpishchev, as promised, decided not to disturb Safina and Dementieva, who are competing at the US Open, and will be replaced in the Russian team by Ekaterina Makarova and Vera Zvonareva. They will be accompanied by the previously announced Svetlana Kuznetsova and Elena Vesnina. By the way, for Makarova this final will be her debut in the team championship.
The Spanish women will perform at home with the strongest lineup - Anabel Medina-Garrigues, Carla Suarez-Navarro, Nuria Legostera-Vives and Virginia Ruano-Pascual.