 |
|
||
 |
|||
 |
 |
 |
   | 
| |||||||||||||||||||||
Warsaw defeat for returning Venus
 Clijsters proved too good for her rival despite trailing 2-0 in both sets WARSAW, Poland -- Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova ended the comeback run of Venus Williams to advance to the semifinals of the WTA event in Warsaw on Friday. Williams, returning to the circuit after injury, had beaten Martina Hingis in the previous round but could find no answer to Kuznetsova who won 6-4 6-2. Earlier, top seed Kim Clijsters downed Francesca Schiavone of Italy 6-4 6-4 to reach the last four. Kuznetsova, who has leapt back to ninth in the rankings after a prolonged run of poor form, traded breaks with Williams early in the first set on clay. Serving at 5-4, Williams wasted five game points before netting a backhand and knocking a forehand long to give Kuznetsova the break and the set. Williams's poor play then continued in the next set. Trailing 1-0 in the second, Williams double faulted to give the Russian a break point, then hit a two-handed forehand long. The break was all Kuznetsova would need. "I think the key of the game was consistency," Kuznetsova said. "I didn't want to defend, because usually against Venus you defend more. I wanted to attack. But still, I was focusing to put as many balls back as I could, and sometimes she made easy mistakes." Kuznetsova, a Warsaw finalist for the past two years, next plays Anna Chakvetadze of Russia, who beat Ana Ivanovic of Serbia-Montenegro 4-6 6-4 6-2. Aggressive ClijstersClijsters was delighted by her performance. "I did exactly what I had to do, which was to be aggressive and try not to let her play the game she loves to play, which is moving her opponent around, mixing her game up and attacking with her forehand." The Italian made the better start in both sets but failed to maintain her advantage. She broke Clijsters to love to lead 2-0 but a double fault and a netted overhead allowed the Belgian to break back in the fifth game. A further break to 4-3 when Schiavone netted a volley was enough to give Clijsters the set. The second set followed a similar pattern, with Schiavone holding off three break points and then breaking Clijsters to 2-0. But a fourth double fault and then a backhand down the line that forced a backhand error from Schiavone allowed Clijsters to break back immediately. The players were level to 4-4 where Schiavone hit an easy smash wide to give Clijsters a break point. Riding her luck, a forehand from Clijsters then clipped the net to give her the break and she served out the match with ease. "My problem was I was playing one point, two points, one game, two games (well), but if you want to beat Kim you have to play every point consistently and I think today I didn't do it." Clijsters will face Russian Elena Dementieva who struggled against Polish teenager Agnieszka Radwanska before her greater fitness saw her through 5-7 6-3 6-1. 
|
| |||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
| © 2007 Cable News Network LP, LLLP. A Time Warner Company. All Rights Reserved. Terms under which this service is provided to you. Read our privacy guidelines. Contact us. Site Map. |
|
External sites open in new window; not endorsed by CNN.com
Pay service with live and archived video. 
