Thursday, May 6, 2010

Rome Womens Results: Ivanovic, Serena, JJ and Martinez Sanchez into Semis

After Ana Ivanovic beat Elena Vesnina in the first round we were all happy that she atleast won a match. After she took out Victoria Azarenka, we were impressed, but made sure we didn't hype this whole thing up too much. Then she gritted out her match with Elena Dementieva and beat one more Russian, Nadia Petrova, today, 6-2, 7-5, to reach the semis. Now I think it's appropriate to conjure up the possibilities of Ana *gulp* possibly becoming a contender again. She has been extremely poised all week while managing her usually erratic ball toss and keeping those fiery emotions in check.

Next, she'll take on Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez, who beat Caroline Wozniacki on Wednesday and Lucie Safarova 7-6 (6), 6-4. The Spaniard hit 7 aces in the win, which was interrupted by a 15 minute rain delay near the end of the first set.

If anyone has shown that they are ready to contend at the French open, it's Jelena Jankovic. After dominating Yanina Wickmayer, the Serb played even better today, if that's possible, in steamrolling Venus Williams 6-0, 6-1. When asked if she was expecting to beat venus so easily, JJ replied, "Of course not. I had so many tough matches against Venus. It’s great to win—6-0, 6-1 is really unbelievable."

Things won't get any easier for the top-ranked Serb, though, as next up is Serena Williams, amazed she is still in the tournament despite coming off numerous injuries. Serena played her best match of the tournament in dispatching Maria Kirilenko 6-1, 6-4. Williams struggled mightily with her serve but was solid off the ground, preventing Krilenko from getting back in the match during a rough stretch in the second. "My knee is feeling good so far," the world number 1 said. "I can’t believe I’m still in the tournament—it’s weird."

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