Australian Open: Russian Women Dominate Semi-Finals

[ScoresPro]

The women’s side of the Australian Open has completed its line up of semi-finalists. What is striking is that three out of four of them are Russians. Vera Zvonareva, Dinara Safina and Elena Dementieva are up against the lone American semi-finalist, Serena Williams. Among the three, only Zvonareva is the untested player when it comes to playing in a Grand Slam tennis semi-final match as this is her first time. Williams,*add all the Russian women’s combined total, is the most experienced*player in Grand Slam tournaments and is*heavily favored to*win the crown.
Zvonareva entered the semi-finals when she beat the Frenchwoman Marion Bartoli in a morning match with a score of 6-3, 6-0. Bartoli, who defeated Jelena Jankovic in the fourth round, was clearly affected by the extreme heat during the game as she struggled with the conditions throughout the match. She failed to follow up her win over the top seed and a chance to enter the sem-finals of a major tournament once again. Zvonareva appeared to be handling the heat better as her all around court game enabled her to win eight straight points to finish Bartoli off.
Safina earned her ticket by subduing Jelena Dokic in an evening match with a score of 6-4, 4-6, 6-4. As soon as Safina won the first set, people had the impression that the match was going to be a walk in the park for her until Dokic decided to give it all she got and challenged Safina toe* to toe. Dokic emerged victorious in the second set at 4-6. Safina once again displayed her nerves of steel and determination that was evident during the match against Alise Cornet of France*as she held her own to finally win the deciding set 6-4.
Zvonareva and Safina shall face each other for the opportunity to play in the tennis final match. Based on their form, Zvonareva appears to have the upperhand. But her inexperience may come to effect as she plays the big points against Safina. Is Zvonareva able to handle the expectations of a viewing public in a Grand Slam match? Will she be abble to handle the pressure?*I predict Safina to win this all Russian semi-final.
Dementieva is having an awesome start in the season. She is presently unbeaten in all her matches up to this point and won the Medibank International in Sydney, a warm up tournament for the Aussie Open, two weeks ago. She shrug off the hot weather as she*registered a win against Carla Suarez Navarro in their morning match, 6-2, 6-2.
Williams, on the other hand. appeared to be in trouble with the extremely warm conditions. In her morning match against Svetlana Kuznetsova, she committed more unforced errors than winners. That made Kuznetsova win the first set 7-5. Play was suspended then for 15 minutes when the roof in the Rod Laver Arena was then closed as temperatures soared to levels that made it mandatory to close the roof. Williams then found her second wind as the conditions in the closed arena became manageable for her. She battled back in the second set to win it 7-5. She then turned up her game to the next level as she won the third set in a convincing fashion 6-2.
She will then face Dementieva in* the other semi-final. Is Dementieva overmatched against Williams? I don’t think so. I saw how*Dementieva worked hard to beat Serena first in the semi-final of the women’s singles in the Olympics which Dementieva eventually won. Proving that the Olympic victory was no fluke, she beat her again at the Sydney Open semifinal.
For the live*tennis results, go to ScoresPro.com/tennis/
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