Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli shrugged off her recent poor form to beat Russian qualifier Alisa Kleybanova 6-3, 6-3 and reach the semi-finals of the International Women’s Open on Thursday.
The second-seeded Bartoli had won only eight matches in 14 events coming into Eastbourne, and her semi-finals run this week is only her second since Wimbledon a year ago.
She began strongly, surrendering just three points in the first four games, but Kleybanova eventually settled and competed on equal terms. Bartoli failed to serve out the first set at 5-1 or convert two set points on Kleybanova’s serve at 5-2 before taking the set in the next game.
PHOTO: AFP
A break for 3-2 gave Bartoli the advantage in the second set, and she closed out the match by winning the last eight points, breaking the Russian to love in the final game.
“I had a tough time because I was not healthy to play tennis, but now I’m feeling really well and really happy to be back on track,” Bartoli said. “I arrived here and kept trying to practice and one day my energy came back and I felt it was the same like last year.”
Bartoli next plays fourth-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska, who first completed a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 second-round win over Virginie Razzano that was suspended at one set each overnight and then beat Gisela Dulko 7-5, 7-5 in the quarter-finals.
PHOTO: EPA
The second semi-final will be between eighth-seeded Nadia Petrova and Australia’s Samantha Stosur.
Petrova had little difficulty in overcoming qualifier Elena Makarova 6-4, 6-3, and Stosur beat Caroline Wozniacki 7-6 (3), 6-4.
Stosur has not reached the semi-finals since August 2006, and she was thrilled with her progress since returning to competition last month after missing eight months with illness.
“I’ve managed to stay positive and just focus on one thing at a time, basically about my game and what I want to improve,” said Stosur, who was limited to walking for no more than 15 minutes at a time when she began training again. “If you keep it simple like that I think it makes it a little bit easier.”
ORDINA OPEN
AP, DEN BOSCH, Netherlands
Top-seeded David Ferrer defeated Mario Ancic 6-4, 7-6 (4) in the quarter-finals on Thursday and ended the two-time champion’s 12-match winning streak at the Ordina Open.
Ancic won at Den Bosch in 2005 and 2006 but missed last year’s tournament because of illness.
Ferrer, ranked No. 5 in the world, broke in the fourth game for the first set, but Ancic rallied after a rain delay.
Sixth-seeded Ancic missed a chance to break Ferrer in the ninth game of the second, produced two aces to come back from 0-40 down in the next game, and ultimately lost in a tiebreaker.
“It was my best match in the tournament,” Ferrer said after reaching his first semi-finals at a grass-court event.
Ferrer will face unseeded Argentine teenager Juan Martin Del Porto, who served 13 aces in beating two-time runner-up Arnaud Clement of France 2-6, 6-3, 6-1.
The other semi-finals features seventh-seeded Guillermo Canas of Argentina against unseeded Marc Gicquel of France.
Canas beat Serbian qualifier Viktor Troicki 6-2, 6-2, and Gicquel topped Jurgen Melzer of Austria 6-3, 6-4 for his first semi-finals since October.
On the women’s side, top-seeded Elena Dementieva of Russia beat Sorana Cirstea of Romania 6-2, 6-4 in the quarter-finals.
Dementieva, the Ordina runner-up in 2002, will play compatriot Dinara Safina, another finalist from two years ago. Dementieva squandered a match point against Safina in the French Open quarter-finals two weeks ago.
Eighth-seeded Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine posted her third career win over a top-10 player when she upset No. 8-ranked Anna Chakvetadze, the defending champion, 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.
Bondarenko will face Thai veteran Tamarine Tanasugarn.
Tamarine knocked out local hope and 2006 champion Michaella Krajicek 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.
“I had good luck with my game early in the third set,” Tamarine said. “That helped a lot because Michaella started playing unbelievably well after 4-1.”
NOTTINGHAM OPEN
AP, NOTTINGHAM, England
Defending champion Ivo Karlovic of Croatia beat Andreas Seppi of Italy 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 to reach the Slazenger Nottingham Open semi-finals on Thursday.
The fourth-seeded Karlovic served 19 aces and lost his serve only once against No. 7 Seppi.
Karlovic will face No. 8 Gael Monfils of France, who defeated qualifier Vince Spadea of the US 7-6 (4), 6-2 at the Wimbledon warmup.
Monfils won his only previous meeting with Karlovic in Monte Carlo two months ago but that was on clay, the Croat’s least favorite surface.
“For sure it will be tough but I’m not thinking about it for now,” Monfils said.
Third-seeded Fernando Verdasco beat fifth-seeded Gilles Simon of France 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 in their quarter-final, and the Spaniard will meet unseeded Marin Cilic of Croatia, who won 21 of his 22 first serves in routing Thomas Johansson of Sweden 6-1, 6-2.
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