Carlsson Storms Into The Semis On Friday
by Priya Prasad
Quarterfinal day opened with the news that Jelena Kostanic had
defeated Jelena Dokic in this week's other women's event in Vienna.
The Croat had taken some time off the main tour to play
challenger events in the last few months, trying to regain some
confidence, and is playing in her first WTA tournament in nearly two
months having won the title in Fontana Fredda ($25,000) last week. The
news seemed to inspire many players who were following what was
happening in Vienna.
In the first match of the day, Asa Carlsson faced 6:1 odds
in the betting pool to win in straight sets against Francesca
Schiavone, a wager I was willing to make. As
mentioned, Asa was looking calm and confident this tournament, more
focused that in a long while for some reason. Porting a healthy
collection of mini-discs and a player with her most of the time, Asa
is always watching other players' games, whether it be newcomers to
the tour nowhere near her in the draw or prospective opponents.
Francesca Schiavone had been walking around very confidently
recently, bolstered by her quarterfinal appearance at Roland Garros,
and perhaps had underestimated her opponent in coming into the match.
Francesca is always looking pumped up on the court, but her play
doesn't necessarily keep a high level of energy. Her on-court
demeanor gave the appearance of a player very much motivated to win
the match, but her tennis said otherwise. Concentration was dubious,
energy was waning, and errors were abundant.
Her coach Marco Tavelli watched calmly as Francesca managed to power
her way out of many tight situations, but just couldn't string enough
of them together to make good of the match, and Asa played steady
tennis to get through 6-4 6-3 in spite of the partisan crowd.
On the other court, Ana Isabella Medina Garrigues made absolute
mincemeat of Tatiana Panova. Watched by both her coach and
Maria Jose Martinez, Ana had moments in which she struggled mentally,
having done most of the work on court in the baking sun, but managed
to keep her head on and fought hard against the diminutive Russian.
Tatiana continued to get back seemingly impossible shots, but had
winner after winner blasted past her, as well as having to cope with the
various spins thrown from across the net. In a relatively short match,
Ana won 6-1 6-2, making the most of her position in the draw and
taking out the second seed. She and Asa Carlsson will square off in
the second semifinal.
Back on centre court, Tathiana Garbin had a big smile on her
face as she walked on court against Gala Leon Garcia. Things
were looking very good for the Italian, who is still struggling to
get her physical problems under control, and she felt confident as she
started the warm-up. A different story unspooled as the match began,
though, as neither her struggling backhand nor strong forehand were
working for her. Balls off her right wing were landing in the net and
balls off her left wing were landing long. Gala is an experienced
player, and knew exactly what to do. She started by putting the
pressure on the weaker wing, and sure enough, her backhand broke down
and Tathiana started reverting to meekly pushing the ball back
across the net. That gave the Spaniard the first set 6-4, although
it looked a lot easier than the score alludes to.
Tathiana had managed to keep inside the top 50 or so despite the
deterioration of her backhand in the last year purely because of her
fitness, and started running around her backhands to pound forehands
in the second set. Spurred on by the crowd (the Italian is absolutely
adored in Italy), Tathiana overcame a small deficit in the first set,
dowsing herself with water on every changeover, and took the second
set 6-3 before heading off to change her sweat-and-water-soaked
body-hugging shirt.
If Tathiana had started the match tired, she was absolutely flat by
the third set. Her normally intimidating serve was hardly making it
across the net, and she was running around 8 out of 10 backhands,
opening up the entire court. She seemed to think that winning one out
of three points that way was good enough odds, and soon found herself
down 2-5. Hitting forehand after forehand, she managed to fend off
two match points, but eventually lost the third set 6-3, having let
everything from people moving around in the stands to constantly
ringing mobile phones get to her. Sylvia Plischke and Asa Carlsson
were already waiting for their doubles match against her and Janette
Husarova, which was due to start after appropriate rest for Garbin.
On court 1, Cristina Torrens Valero was ready to challenge the
top seed Magui Serna. She got a lucky break, though, as
Serna was all out of sorts, and couldn't keep the ball in court at
all. More than once, she'd get a short ball, and actually slam a high
forehand into the net from the service line. Cristina kept up the
steady play, moving elegantly on court and not getting too excited
about the prospect of winning.
Magui tried to get herself going, and had half the crowd behind
her, but couldn't get up for the match. It didn't take long for
Cristina to win 6-4 6-3 and head off for a bit of dinner while
Tathiana Garbin and Janette Husarova made a bid for the final against
Asa Carlsson and Sylvia Plischke. The top pair was a little out of
sorts, with Tathiana still feeling out of it after her singles match.
Janette continued to play well, but employed frustrating tactics,
preferring to remain on the baseline and playing the same formations
over and over again. Making life difficult for themselves, Tathiana
and Janette took about half an hour to take two games, but came
through 6-2 6-3 against the third seeds.
Tomorrow will prove an interesting day indeed, with Ana Isabel Medina
Garrigues taking on Asa Carlsson in the first semifinal, and Cristina
Torrens Valero meeting Gala Leon Garcia in the second semifinal --
three out of four for the Spaniards, from the total of 9 in the
entire tournament. I would have to give the edge to Ana Isabel,
probably in straight sets, and in the other match, Cristina Torrens
Valero in 3.
The doubles final will certainly be an interesting one, with the top
two pairs taking each other on. Prediction: top-seeded Garbin and
Husarova will come through over Martinez and Medina Garrigues in 2
or 3 sets, depending on how tired the Italian will be tomorrow.
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Last updated 26 September 2015
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