DOHA, (Reuters) – World number one Serena Williams marched into the semi-finals of the WTA Championships yesterday with a comfortable win over Elena Dementieva.
Her 6-2 6-4 victory completed a 100 percent record for the American in Maroon Group and confirmed her as the first player through to the last four at the season-ending showpiece.
Teenager Caroline Wozniacki is also undefeated on her debut at the event after beating Russian stand-in Vera Zvonareva in a White Group clash that at times resembled a hospital casualty department rather than a tennis match.
The 19-year-old Dane eventually won 6-0 6-7 6-4 but played the last four points virtually on one leg. She was in tears after suffering agonising cramps in her heavily-bandaged left thigh and could barely hobble to the net to shake hands.
Zvonareva, who replaced fellow Russian Dinara Safina who withdrew with a back injury, was also in the wars, needing treatment in the second set as blood oozed from her nose.
“I have absolutely no idea how I pulled it through, but I’m very happy about it,” said surprise U.S. Open runner-up Wozniacki, who may still need to beat Serbia’s Jelena Jankovic today to clinch a semi-final spot.”
“I’m gonna do everything I can to get ready for tomorrow,” added the world number four. “I’m just going to do everything that physio and the doctors are saying, drinking a lot of fluids, eat some good food, stretch, get some massage, get some ice massage, take a salt bath, everything.”
There were no such dramas for Serena who recovered from an early service break to win seven games in a row against Dementieva, a player she had lost to three times this year.
SERENA FATIGUE
Dementieva’s cause was not helped by 10 double faults but the Olympic champion can still reach the semi-finals here for the second year in succession by beating Svetlana Kuznetsova in her final group match today.
Serena’s three wins in three days means the three other players are scraping for second spot. Her sister Venus must beat Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova later to keep alive her slim hopes of holding on to her title.
“It feels good to be through because I’ve never really done well in this round-robin format,” Serena, who won the tournament in 2001 when it was a conventional knockout draw, said at courtside. “Tomorrow I’m going to sleep all day because I’ve played every day so far here and I’m really tired.”
Wozniacki, who needed a minute under three hours to subdue Victoria Azarenka on Wednesday, looked set for a quick victory when she raced through the opening set against Zvonareva.
Things got worse for Zvonareva in the second set when she developed a nose bleed but, like a boxer with a cut, she suddenly came out fighting and clawed back a 5-2 deficit.
A brutal brutal baseline struggle developed with both players scampering across the baseline to retrieve lost causes on a breathless night in the Qatari capital.
