Kim Clijsters moved into an Australian Open semifinal showdown with No. 2-ranked Vera Zvonareva, beating Agnieszka Radwanska 6-3 7-6 (4) on Wednesday as air force planes flew in formation overhead as part of celebrations for the national day.
Cannons went off earlier when Zvonareva started the Australia Day proceedings at Rod Laver Arena with a 6-2 6-4 win over Petra Kvitova.
Three-time U.S. Open champion Clijsters is seeking her first major outside of America and to return to the final at Melbourne Park for the first time since 2004, when she lost the championship match to fellow Belgian Justine Henin.
Zvonareva has never won a Grand Slam title, losing the last two finals to Clijsters in New York and to Serena Williams at Wimbledon.
Clijsters struggled more than Zvonerava, even had Radwanska serve for the second set at 5-4, and seemingly had an injury with left thigh heavily tapped.
Zvonerava has won three of the last four meetings with Clijsters with the winner this time either play world number one Caroline Wozniacki or inform Li Na for their first Australian Open crown.
2 comments:
Let me start with the doubles final which has two very good and interesting teams. To be honest I didn't pay attention to the doubles until I checked the semis results, it slipped my mind :/ a big Booooooo for me. :P Dulko and Pennetta -I think I heard that name before :P- vs. Azarenka and one of your good guys Captain: "The Princess". On a previous post I commented that after the injury to Aggie who was Azareka's double partner, Azarenka needed to find a good doubles partner to make noise. She did and now she is in the final. Both are good teams, I'll be rooting for Azarenka/Kirilenko team. I expect a large crowd since all four ladies are good looking, too bad they are taken. :( Hahaha. :P
I did not see the Vera and Kim matches. :( What I noticed about Aggie in this tournament is that she lacked the "Grrrrrrr factor". I thought she was too passive, maybe the injury is still in the back of her mind. That is the only criticism that I have for her, otherwise good job and nice comeback from Aggie. She will be a factor the rest of the year. She lacks power but she really needs to improve is her accuracy.
Kim has not been sharp in the last two rounds I think the pressure is getting to her. If Vera comes on all cylinders she can take out Kim in the semis, go Kryptonite!
I have to comment on The Big Stuffed Bunny's QF match and no Captain, I don't have an inflatable boxing kangaroo to take to my press conferences. :P I think The Bunny played dumb, instead of making The Italian run around court placing the ball on the corners, she opted to return the ball where the Italian was. What happened to her offensive game the she had last year? She reverted to her conservative, 'I'll wait till you make an unforced error' type of game. The Italian took advantage of that. To The Bunny's credit she came out with the victory but frankly it should had been in two sets. Now I have respect for Francesca who showed how fit, mentally strong, and a top caliber player she is. I thought her RG win was a fluke, I'm glad she proved me wrong.
In the Match against Francesca the Bunny went to the locker room after she lost the first set to get her leg tape. She took more time than is allowed to get back on court. I think she didn't have an injury and she did that on purpose to regroup, distract her opponent, and to prolong the match which would have favored her since Francesca was coming out a marathon match. That is bush league IMO. She took out the bandages early in the second set, in the middle of a game.
The way the Bunny is playing Li Na will take care of her in straight sets 6-1, 6-2.
My father said that Francesca grunts sounded like a man's grunt. :/
Captain, you mentioned previously that you like Nadal. Well I wouldn't shake this guy's hand after a match if I played against him. I know where his hand has been. :P
I have not followed the doubles at all! Which is surprising, because I usually do! Ahaha. I think Azarenka/Princess will win! They work well together!
Aggie, has appeared all tournament as if she hasn't been here 100% And she isn't playing like did last year, but she will obviously get there soon! And get her "Grrrrrrrrr factor" back.
Vera has looked a lot more consistent in all her matches! So Li Na Vera final!
Franny showed great courage, and mental strength and she did show that her RG was no fluke! And yes I think The Bunny's injury was very fake, get tapped, get more tape, two games later rip the tape off! there was obviously no injury!
Well her grunt is quite interesting, she appears to grunt after she hits the ball!
Ahahaha, He does need a pair of better fitting pants, or underwear!
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