Posts Tagged ‘reach’

Li Na defeats Maria Sharapova to reach French Open final

Li Na defeats Maria Sharapova to reach French Open final
Bidding to become the first Chinese champion of a Grand Slam event, Li will face defending champion Francesca Schiavone in the final. Sharapova, trying for a career Grand Slam, has 10 double-faults in loss. PARIS — As Maria Sharapova prepared to serve while only a point from defeat in the French Open semifinals, Li Na was thinking what any opponent would at that precise moment.

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Stosur ousts Zvonareva to reach Stuttgart semis

Stosur ousts Zvonareva to reach Stuttgart semis
Samantha Stosur admitted Thursday’s quarter-final win over second-seed Vera Zvonareva was her best of the year so far as she reached the last four at Stuttgart’s WTA tournament.

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Federer, Roddick, Wozniacki, Venus reach Australian Open third round

Federer, Roddick, Wozniacki, Venus reach Australian Open third round
Jelena Dokic crashed out of game, while Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, Caroline Wozniacki, Venus Williams, Justine Henin and Li Na on Wednesday beat their opponents and reach third round of Australian Open.

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Nadal beats Verdasco to reach US Open semifinals

Nadal beats Verdasco to reach US Open semifinals
Published: Friday, September 10, 2010 at 4:01 a.m. Last Modified: Friday, September 10, 2010 at 12:07 a.m. NEW YORK – At the start, Rafael Nadal would say later, he was “scared” by the wind.

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Tennis: Li Na wins twice in a day to reach semis

Chinese top seed Li Na made it through to the semi-finals of the WTA grasscourt event here at Edgbaston after winning twice on Friday.

Li first defeated German 13th seed Angelique Kerber, losing the first set but coming back to win 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 on a day when organisers tried to make-up for lost time in a rain-marred event.

Her quarter-final opponent, Estonian Kaia Kanepi, wasted little time Friday in a 6-2, 6-2 victory over Portugal’s Michelle Larcher De Brito.

Thoughts that Kanepi might be the fresher player were reinforced when she won the first three games against Li.

But the 28-year-old Chinese regrouped. Li, the world number 12, won 6-4, 6-2 and will now face France’s Aravane Rezai in the semi-finals on Saturday.

Earlier, second seed Maria Sharapova once again proved too strong for her old foe Sesil Karatantcheva as she reached the semi-finals with a 6-2, 6-4 win.

Back in 2004, an altercation in practice at the Indian Wells event in the United States led to Karatantcheva vowing to kick “her (Sharapova’s) butt”.

But in front of a standing-room only crowd on one of the outer courts, Sharapova beat Karatantcheva in three sets, before thrashing her 6-0, 6-1 in the second round at Wimbledon a year later.

Karatantcheva, the 2004 French Open junior champion, was banned as a 16-year-old for two years for a drugs offence in 2006.

The Bulgarian-born player, who now represents Kazakhstan, has always maintained her innocence after testing positive for the steroid nandrolone.

Second seed Sharapova won two matches on Thursday, completing a rain-delayed 6-0, 6-3 victory over Bethanie Mattek-Sands of the United States and then beating fellow Russian Alla Kudryavtseva 6-3, 6-1.

The 22-year-old Sharapova, who recently returned to action after nine months out with a shoulder injury, told the BBC on Friday: “I definitely feel in a better situation this year than last.

“Last year I wasn’t sure how my arm was going to hold up, and I was always on the watch-out for that, but I feel much better about it now.”

Sharapova, Wimbledon champion in 2004, has won this Wimbledon warm-up event twice before and is seeded to meet Li in the final.

But Sharapova must first get past Alison Riske in the last four.

The US teenager arrived at Birmingham never having won a match on the main Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) tour but she continued her fine form at Edgbaston with a three-set victory over world number 16 Yanina Wickmayer.

Belgian third see Wickmayer won the first set on a tie break but a service break in each of the next two sets saw the 19-year-old Riske to a 6-7, (5/7) 6-4, 6-3 win.

Regardless of the result of her match with Sharapova, Riske is sure to improve her career-high ranking of 185.

Playing two matches in a day, as happened in several of Friday’s quarter-finals, worked against Italian fifth seed Sara Errani.

Having beaten Marina Erakovic of New Zealand in three sets in the morning, Errani was defeated in straight sets by fourth seed Rezai, with the Frenchwoman winning 7/6 (7/2), 7-5 in a close encounter.

Wimbledon Championships Hospitality
Mon Jun 28, 2010 at 11:00 Wimbledon Center Court London United Kingdom
Wimbledon Championships Hospitality
Tue Jun 29, 2010 at 11:00 Wimbledon Number One Court London United Kingdom

Federer fails to reach semifinals first time in 19 slams FRENCH OPEN 2010.MOV

Clijsters overcomes Pennetta to reach semis

Clijsters overcomes Pennetta to reach semis
Defending US Open champion Kim Clijsters has reached the semifinals at the Cincinnati Open, beating Italy’s Flavia Pennetta 7-6 (6), 6-4 in oppressive afternoon heat.

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Nadal, Djokovic, Federer, Murray reach Rogers Cup quarters

Nadal, Djokovic, Federer, Murray reach Rogers Cup quarters
Top-ranked Rafael Nadal, former top-ranked superstar Roger Federer and reigning champion Andy Murray joined second-seeded Novak Djokovic in posting third-round victories Thursday at the $2.43 million Roger Cup, an ATP Masters event.

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Sharapova, Azarenka reach Stanford semis

Sharapova, Azarenka reach Stanford semis
Sharapova survives a three-set endurance match to reach Stanford semis. Marion Bartoli – Victoria Azarenka – 2009 Bank of the West Classic – Belarus – Maria Sharapova

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Tomas Berdych Beats Third-Seeded Novak Djokovic to Reach Wimbledon Final

Tomas Berdych Beats Third-Seeded Novak Djokovic to Reach Wimbledon Final
Tomas Berdych defeated third-seeded Novak Djokovic in straight sets to reach the Wimbledon final.

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Australian Open – Nadal, Federer, Roddick and Verdasco Reach Semis

I guess the player whom I really did not expect to go this far is Spain’s Fernando Verdasco. The quarterfinal matches produced some unexpected results. But what matters is the looming showdown between Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer in the finals. Will fate allow them to follow the script that every tennis fan is wishing for? Let us wait and see.

Andy Roddick was the first one to reach the semis when he actually beat defending champion Novak Djokovic who retired with a tennis match result of 7-6 (3), 6-4, 6-2, 2-1. It was a bitter way to end the defense of his title for Djokovic who clearly suffered under the extremely hot weather. Compounding Djokovic’s woes was the fact that he played in a night match previously against Marco Baghdatis and the game finished at 2:20 am. He clearly had difficulty moving by the fourth set before he threw in the towel and retired. Roddick was a good sport though, as he held his emotions under check and didn’t seem to gloat once Djokovic made his decision. To Roddick’s credit, he seems to be playing better tennis than before, his progress to the quarterfinals was overshadowed by the hype surrounding Nadal and Federer. WIth his powerful serves and better all around game, I guess Djokovic didn’t really had a chance against Roddick to fight back.

Federer beat Juan Martin del Potro in the evening match in a rather convincing fashion, 6-3, 6-0, 6-0. After his previous match were in he almost got eliminated, Federer came back and didn’t really gave del Potro any chances to win a point. It was Federer’s most devastating win, as he seemed to be sending out a message to everyone that he isn’t done yet and is still aiming to break Pete Sampras’ record of most Grand Slam Men’s Singles titles won. The win reminded supporters of the Federer of years back, when in a zone, is so difficult to beat. His victory sets him up with a very interesting semi-final against an old rival in Roddick. Next to a Nadal-Federer match, a Federer-Roddick match will sure prove to be a treat for the fans of tennis who have not seen the two men play against each other in a major tournament since a Wimbledon final years back.

Verdasco proved to be this year’s giant killer as he eliminated Andy Murray in the fourth round then followed it up with a victory over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France  under a closed roof of Rod Laver Arena. The score was 7-6, 3-6, 6-3, 6-2. Right from the start of the match, Verdasco appeared to be the more energetic and spritely player. He copied a page from Nadal’s repertoire of shots as he tried to hit game winners into the corners of the court. Tsonga looked like a different player as he struggled to place his first serves in.

Nadal faced Gilles Simon of France in the evening and the Frenchman was the only player who has provided the top ranked Spaniard some scary moments as he battled Nadal in the second and third sets before losing 6-2, 7-5, 7-5. Simon actually forced the game to Nadal, dictating the flow of the game and the pace that threw Nadal off his comfort zone. Simon made Nadal produce 24 unforced errors and only 29 winners. Too bad that Simon was error prone himself as he had 41 but did produced 42 winners to keep the match close.

Isner and Querrey reach Serbia Open final

Isner and Querrey reach Serbia Open final
Sam Querrey and John Isner won semifinal matches Saturday at the Serbia Open, setting up the first all-American ATP clay-court final in Europe since Jim Courier defeated Andre Agassi for the 1991 French Open championship. Querrey, seeded third, routed 18-year-old Serbian wild card Filip Krajinovic 6-1, 6-2.

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VERDASCO UPSETS DJOKOVIC TO REACH FINAL

VERDASCO UPSETS DJOKOVIC TO REACH FINAL
Verdasco – dumped out top seed Djokovic. A solid performance from Fernando Verdasco saw him dispatch top seed Novak Djokovic and set up an all-Spanish final against Rafael Nadal at the Monte Carlo Masters.

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Nadal beats Ferrero easily to reach Monte Carlo semifinals

Nadal beats Ferrero easily to reach Monte Carlo semifinals
Rafael Nadal beat Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-4, 6-2 in the quarter-finals of the Monte Carlo Masters on Friday to extend his winning run at the tournament to 30 matches and stay on course for his sixth straight title.

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Roddick stuns Nadal to reach Miami Masters final

Roddick stuns Nadal to reach Miami Masters final
Andy Roddick’s decision to take some risks paid off Friday as the American rallied to beat Spain’s Rafael Nadal 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 to reach the final of the Miami ATP Masters 1000.

Read more on AFP via Yahoo! News