Translated material
Suffered from Hope
The first to take to the court were Nadezhda Petrova and the third racket of the tournament, Svetlana Kuznetsova. Petrova the day before ruined the triumphant return to Australia of Belgian Kim Clijsters. The once first racket of the world was defeated - 0:6, 1:6. Nadezhda did not spare her compatriot either. Her match with Kuznetsova turned out to be much more stubborn, but also ended in Petrova’s victory - 6:3, 3:6, 6:1. “Petrova played well, she is showing her best game in the last two years,” Kuznetsova paid tribute to her opponent. “And I didn’t deserve to win because I didn’t play well enough.” I made too many unforced errors and served poorly.” Nadezhda Petrova will have the opportunity to loudly make herself known in the next round. In the quarterfinals she will meet another Belgian - Justine Henin, who broke the resistance of her compatriot Yanina Wickmayer - 7:6, 1:6, 6:3.
From another Russian pair, Maria Kirilenko - Dinara Safina, the less eminent athlete will also continue the fight. At the same time, Kirilenko, who will take part in the Grand Slam quarterfinals for the first time, was lucky. Safina, entered at the tournament as number two, was forced to withdraw from the competition. Losing 4:5 in the first set, Dinara interrupted the match due to back pain. “I felt discomfort during the morning warm-up and took a painkiller before the start of the meeting,” said Safina. - But during the game I felt real pain. When the score was 4:3, the coach asked me to withdraw. I decided to try to play again, but it didn’t work out.” This is not the first time that Dinara Safina has withdrawn during a competition due to back problems. In the final WTA tournament of 2009 in Doha, Dinar was prevented from continuing to fight by the same injury.
Most of the favorites in the men's draw will take to the court today. In the meantime, the losses among them are not so great. Except that Juan Martin del Potro didn't make it to the quarterfinals. The fourth seed lost to Marin Cilic in a stubborn match lasting four hours and 37 minutes - 7:5, 4:6, 5:7, 7:5, 3:6. Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray dealt with their opponents much faster.