Tennis: Vera Zvonareva Into Semi-finals Of Australlian Open
January 27th 2009 07:04
Vera Zvonareva,described as a "ball machine", has reached the Australian Open semi-finals with a crushing 6-3 6-0 win over Marion Bartoli in searing conditions at Melbourne Park.
Zvonareva kept her cool after trailing 3-1 in the first set to win 11 successive games as Bartoli wilted in the heat.
“I like it when it's warm, so it's perfect for me," Zvonareva said of the conditions, which left Bartoli bent double and sucking for breath in the second set.
The 23-year-old Russian has been in ominous form in reaching her first grand slam semi-final.
She is yet to drop a set in the tournament while holding her opponents to 6-0 in four of the 10 sets she has contested.
Her ability to deal with the testing conditions proved crucial against Bartoli, who could not find the red-hot form with which she ousted world No 1 Jelena Jankovic.
“It was a great match for me today because Marion is a very, very good player so I'm happy about that," Zvonareva said.
“I was trying to execute my shots and cut down on the unforced errors a lot, I think that helped me."
Zvonareva now faces the winner of the quarter-final clash between Australia's Jelena Dokic and Russian Dinara Safina.
Bartoli, a Wimbledon finalist in 2007, came out swinging early in the match but her aggressive tactics proved unsuited to the hot conditions.
She drew first blood, taking advantage of a Zvonareva double fault and a rash of unforced errors from the Russian to go up a break in the first game.
Zvonareva, playing in only the second grand slam quarter-final of her career, managed to break back in the next.
But Bartoli, covering her head with a towel between games to provide some relief from the heat, lobbed an advancing Zvonareva on her way to another break.
The 23-year-old Frenchwoman surrendered the advantage three games later, committing two double faults and allowing Zvonareva to level the set at 3-3.
The Russian, who took a 6-1 winning record against Bartoli into the match, began to recover from her slow start, her penetrating ground-strokes finally finding their mark.
She gained the upper hand with another break to go up 5-3, sending down her first ace of the match in the next as she went on to serve out the set after 38 minutes.
The conditions took their toll on Bartoli in the second set and Zvonareva moved her around the court, breaking her three times as she raced to a 6-0 lead in just 30 minutes.
"I think she played just unbelievably well, she barely missed one ball after that," Bartoli said.
"I was hitting as hard as I could and she was always coming back with some better shots.
"Even when she was scrambling she was putting the ball just 10 centimetres from the baseline so I never had a look at a ball to see whether I could attack, or had some space into the court.
"It seems like she was reading my game like a book. It was just too good, she was just better than me, that's it.
"I think if she keeps playing like this, she can definitely win this tournament.
"She's really consistent from the baseline, she's almost like a ball machine - she puts it back at you all the time, with interest."
The Frenchwoman said the unflattering scoreline belied her own performance.
"I don't think it went badly," she said.
"I think she's just the better player. At a point you have to admit when someone just plays better than you."
Bartoli's only real complaint was about the scheduling, with her quarter-final played during the middle of the day when it was likely to be hotter than the night match between Dokic and Safina.
"It was quite, quite hot, I have to say it was definitely tough conditions," she said.
"I guess it's not the same to play like we played today and the other match is going to be held at 7.30pm . I don't think it's really fair to have one quarter-final played at 1pm, right in the middle of the heat, and one playing at 7.30pm, but I guess that's the way it is."
Zvonareva, meanwhile, said the key for her was eliminating her mistakes early.
"I really thought Marion was playing really well in the beginning and I made a few unforced errors so that's why I was down 3-1, but I was able to cut down on them and keep a good level of play throughout the whole match," Zvonareva said.
AAP
Zvonareva kept her cool after trailing 3-1 in the first set to win 11 successive games as Bartoli wilted in the heat.
“I like it when it's warm, so it's perfect for me," Zvonareva said of the conditions, which left Bartoli bent double and sucking for breath in the second set.
The 23-year-old Russian has been in ominous form in reaching her first grand slam semi-final.
She is yet to drop a set in the tournament while holding her opponents to 6-0 in four of the 10 sets she has contested.
Vera Zvonareva
Her ability to deal with the testing conditions proved crucial against Bartoli, who could not find the red-hot form with which she ousted world No 1 Jelena Jankovic.
“It was a great match for me today because Marion is a very, very good player so I'm happy about that," Zvonareva said.
“I was trying to execute my shots and cut down on the unforced errors a lot, I think that helped me."
Zvonareva now faces the winner of the quarter-final clash between Australia's Jelena Dokic and Russian Dinara Safina.
Bartoli, a Wimbledon finalist in 2007, came out swinging early in the match but her aggressive tactics proved unsuited to the hot conditions.
She drew first blood, taking advantage of a Zvonareva double fault and a rash of unforced errors from the Russian to go up a break in the first game.
Zvonareva, playing in only the second grand slam quarter-final of her career, managed to break back in the next.
But Bartoli, covering her head with a towel between games to provide some relief from the heat, lobbed an advancing Zvonareva on her way to another break.
The 23-year-old Frenchwoman surrendered the advantage three games later, committing two double faults and allowing Zvonareva to level the set at 3-3.
The Russian, who took a 6-1 winning record against Bartoli into the match, began to recover from her slow start, her penetrating ground-strokes finally finding their mark.
She gained the upper hand with another break to go up 5-3, sending down her first ace of the match in the next as she went on to serve out the set after 38 minutes.
The conditions took their toll on Bartoli in the second set and Zvonareva moved her around the court, breaking her three times as she raced to a 6-0 lead in just 30 minutes.
"I think she played just unbelievably well, she barely missed one ball after that," Bartoli said.
"I was hitting as hard as I could and she was always coming back with some better shots.
"Even when she was scrambling she was putting the ball just 10 centimetres from the baseline so I never had a look at a ball to see whether I could attack, or had some space into the court.
"It seems like she was reading my game like a book. It was just too good, she was just better than me, that's it.
"I think if she keeps playing like this, she can definitely win this tournament.
"She's really consistent from the baseline, she's almost like a ball machine - she puts it back at you all the time, with interest."
The Frenchwoman said the unflattering scoreline belied her own performance.
"I don't think it went badly," she said.
"I think she's just the better player. At a point you have to admit when someone just plays better than you."
Bartoli's only real complaint was about the scheduling, with her quarter-final played during the middle of the day when it was likely to be hotter than the night match between Dokic and Safina.
"It was quite, quite hot, I have to say it was definitely tough conditions," she said.
"I guess it's not the same to play like we played today and the other match is going to be held at 7.30pm . I don't think it's really fair to have one quarter-final played at 1pm, right in the middle of the heat, and one playing at 7.30pm, but I guess that's the way it is."
Zvonareva, meanwhile, said the key for her was eliminating her mistakes early.
"I really thought Marion was playing really well in the beginning and I made a few unforced errors so that's why I was down 3-1, but I was able to cut down on them and keep a good level of play throughout the whole match," Zvonareva said.
AAP
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