By Saumojyoti Singha Choudhury, IANS
Bangalore : On a day of upsets, third seed Serena Williams kept reputation intact by thrashing Tzipora Obziler of Israel 7-5, 6-0 to enter the quarterfinal of the $600,000 Bangalore Open at the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association Wednesday.
Giant-killer Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan knocked out one more seeded player in fifth seed Agnes Szavay of Hungary 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-4 and Russian Anastasia Rodionova followed her footsteps, stunning sixth seed Sybille Bammer 7-6(5), 6-2.
Serena and Obziler traded breaks till the fourth game, but thereafter, the games went with serve till the 12th when the former world No. 1 stepped up and broke the Israeli with a deep backhand volley to pocket the set 7-5.
Serena attacked with her powerful forehands, but in the initial phase of the first set, she too committed a lot of unforced errors. But the Isreali player was unable to take advantage and as the match progressed Serena managed to cut her errors down.
Once she had the opening set there was no stopping Serena as she raced to a 6-0 verdict in the second and wrapped up the match in an hour and 16 minutes. In the quarterfinal Serena will clash with Rodionova.
“I am just happy to be here and start the campaign on a winning note considering I was not in shape two and a half weeks ago. I am definitely not 100 percent fit,” said Serena.
She was also quick to point out the line calls were not up to the mark. “The line calls were definitely not good today. I had some issues with the calls,” she said.
Meanwhile, the seed scalping was started by Amanmuradova in the very first match of the day. Amanmuradova used her booming serves to battle past the 18-year-old Hungarian sensation Szavay in little more than two and a half hours to book a last eight berth.
The six-foot-three-inch Uzbek, ranked 83rd, earlier defeated defending champion Yaroslava Shvedova of Russia in the opening round.
However, it was Szavay who started the match in an authoritative manner using her deep backhand volleys to great perfection and opened up the court to set up winners.
Szavay, ranked 17 in the WTA rankings, broke the Uzbek as early as in the third game of the opening set to go up 3-1. She later saved a break point on the seventh game of the set with a deep forehand cross-court winner and then held serve to pocket the set 6-4.
The second set started on a similar note with the fifth seed breaking Amanmuradova in the very first game. But that’s how far the game went according to the script.
From there on, the Uzbek started her fightback. She broke back to restore parity. Games went with serves till 6-6 before the tie-breaker was applied. In the tie-breaker the tall and big-built Amanmuradova came out with booming serves to seal the set 7-6 (4) and send the match into the third set.
Into the third and final set, it was Amanmuradova who broke Szavay in the very first game. But then it was the fifth seeded Szavay’s turn to fight back as she restored parity in the sixth game.
Amanmuradova shifted another gear to break Szavay in the ninth game and then used her big serve to hold onto her own and close the match at 6-4 in the third set.
In the quarter-finals, she will meet the winner of the match between fourth seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland and Akiko Nakamura of Japan to be played later in the day.
“I think Akgul (Amanmuradova) played very well. She was serving exceedingly well. But I don’t think I made too many mistakes, may be my confidence level was not high,” a disappointed looking Szavay said.
Amanmuradova termed her victory as a sweet revenge against Szavay against whom she lost in Wimbledon last year.
“I am very happy to win as I lost against her (Szavay) in Wimbledon. It’s a very good revenge. I played her before so I know her game and just planned to hold my serve and capitalize on her second serve,” she said.
“It’s not about tactics here as the courts are very fast and bouncy. It’s really very tough to control the balls as they roll at faster pace. But I think today, what clicked for me is my serve,” said Amanmuradova.