Serena Withdraws in China; Sharapova and Ivanovic to Meet in Semis

October 3, 2014 | By New York Tennis Magazine Staff
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Photo credit: Adam Wolfthal

A knee injury forced Serena Williams out of the China Open on Friday, just before she was set to take on Australia’s Samantha Stosur. The withdrawal sends Stosur into the semifinals as Serena has withdrawn for the second straight tournament after leaving Wuhan with a viral illness.

“It’s really frustrating, especially having to retire from here,” said Serena, who won this tournament last year. “This is a really big tournament for me. I’m defending champ. Also it’s one of the big four. You always want to do your best to defend your title. That’s why I played yesterday—I’ve got to at least give it a chance. I’ve done well here. This is my title. So more than anything, it’s just extremely frustrating not to win this week.”

While her knee injury is something to be monitored over the next couple weeks leading up to the WTA Finals, Serena’s exit puts Stosur into the semifinals in Beijing. The 21st-ranked Stosur has notched some solid victories already this week as she has beaten Caroline Wozniacki and Alize Cornet, and has yet to drop a set.

If she wants to reach the finals, however, she will need to defeat red-hot Petra Kvitova. The third-ranked player in the world has yet to lose on the Asian swing, capturing the Wuhan Open title last week and cruising through her opponents thus far in Beijing.

Kvitova disposed of Italian Roberta Vinci 7-6(2), 6-4 in her quarterfinal match to advance into the final four. The Czech fell behind 5-1 out of the gate, but clawed her way back into the opening frame. Fighting off a couple of set points, Kvitova eventually forced the set into a tiebreaker before seizing control of the match.

“I don’t know what I was trying in the beginning of the match, but she just played really well,” said Kvitova. “She was going forward, she didn’t have a lot of mistakes—I just had to be patient and eventually come back in the match.”

After escaping with the first set, she found herself trailing again, down 4-2 in the second set before evening things up. She faced a double break point serving at 5-4, but ripped consecutive aces to fight off the break and close out the straight-set victory.

She carries a 6-1 head-to-head record into the semifinal bout with Stosur, and can jump ahead of Simona Halep to number two in the world rankings if she goes on to win the title.

The other semifinal match will feature former world number ones Ana Ivanovic and Maria Sharapova.

Ivanovic received a walkover into the semis after Halep withdrew with a hip injury. Sharapova had to play her quarterfinal match and disposed off fellow Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-0, 6-4.

Sharapova and Kuznetsova played a tough three-setter in Wuhan and Sharapova carried momentum from that match into this one. After capturing the final two sets to win last week, she quickly won the first seven games on Friday to take control and move on.

“I thought she played really great defense,” said Sharapova. “But even if I was down a break, I felt like she was doing most of the running, and I was happy to win the match in two sets.”

 Sharapova leads the head-to-head series 8-4 over Ivanovic, but the Serb has won the last two meetings.

“She’s playing really well so far this year, very consistent,” added Sharapova. “I always look forward to our matches—I think they’re always competitive.”


New York Tennis Magazine Staff
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