August 19, 2011
With the world's No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark struggling losing her last two matches and No. 3 Kim Clijsters of Belgium bowing out of the U.S. Open due to a stomach ailment, new No. 2 player in the world Vera Zvonareva of Russia could be the next No. 1 player in the women's circuit after the fourth Slam of the year.
Zvonareva ousted unseeded Slovakian Daniela Hantuchova today 6-3, 7-6(6) and will face fellow Russian (4) Maria Sharapova who beat Australian (10) Samantha Stosur 6-3, 6-2 for the ninth time on the WTA Tour in the first Western & Southern Open Quarterfinal of the day.
Sharapova who either is scary good or scary bad played again today without her boo and tennis groupie Sasha Vujacic who has cheered on Maria most of this summer from the stands. The Russian did just fine with her fiance absent in Ohio this week to advance all the way to the semifinals without dropping a set.
Losing a hair under five games per match has been Sharapova who ousted tricky Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-2, 6-3 in the third round to improve to 6-4 against the 13th-ranked Russian. It was only the third time Maria lost five games or less to Kuznetsova who fell last year in Cincinnati during the first round 6-4, 1-6, 6-2.
Today's first semifinal saw the seventh-ranked Russian Sharapova dispose of Stosur with stronger serving- 72 percent to 63 percent first serve percentage while winning seven more points on serve. Maria served two less aces than Sam but had one less double fault en route to only being broken once while breaking the Australian five times.
If the fourth-seeded Russian is able to win 5-of-8 break point chances the second-seeded and newly awarded No. 2 player in the world Vera will have a full plate. The higher-ranked Russian dismantled Hantuchova with fine baseline play, exceptional returning and just good enough serving.
Zvonareva didn't take as many chances as Sharapova did today off the ground. Maria is more likely to go for outright winners while sometimes that gives her an edge in matches it also can be a detriment. Sharapova's baseline play will somewhat dictate how strong of a serving day she's having.
If she's missing a lot of down-the-line shots and cross-court forehand then Maria's serve will likely suffer. Vera hopes Sharapova's as shaky and nervous as Daniela was today in the first set on Zvonareva's serve never even sniffing a break point opportunity. The second set however was a different story as neither player could hold with any sort of regularity losing half of their service games.
Maria leads Vera 6-3 in what is one of the best rivalries in women's tennis. Unfortunately it's been more than two years since the Russians have met on the WTA Tour with Sharapova taking out Zvonareva in the Rogers Cup Quarters. Vera won their first match in 2004 and their first two of three matches with the third encounter also coming at the 2004 Rogers Cup Quarters in three sets. Maria squared the head-to-head at the end of the year with a win at the final of the 2004 WTA Tour Championships.
As hot as Sharapova has been this week Zvonareva's played excellent tennis too through her first two matches only dropping seven games. However Vera had a tougher match today falling down a break to begin the second set against the Slovak who exchanged break after break with Zvonareva for what seemed like half of the games in the second set. This could be another match with many ebbs and flows. I thought about picking one of these women to make the finals here, but declined to do so. Because Vera's the more consistent player and Maria's more fragile, I'll go with the higher ranked Russian to persevere.
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