By Saumojyoti Singha Choudhury, IANS
Bangalore : On a day of upsets, Serena Williams and Patty Schnyder ensured not to fall prey to the seed scalping curse and registered their quarterfinal berth at the $600,000 Canara Bank Bangalore Open at the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association Wednesday.
The order of the day turned out to be upsets, initiated by giant-killer Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan who added one more seeded scalp to her kitty defeating fifth seed Agnes Szavay of Hungary 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-4.
And then Russian beauty Anastasia Rodionova followed her footsteps stunning sixth seed Sybille Bammer 7-6(5), 6-2, but the third-seed Serena made it sure that she doesn’t enrol her name in the list, demolishing Tzipora Obziler of Israel 7-5, 6-0 to in just one hour 16 minutes.
Fourth-seed Swiss Schnyder took one hour and fifty-seven minutes to survive initial scares from unseeded Japanese Akiko Nakamura to secure a mouth watering last eight encounter against Amanmuradova 6-7(1), 6-4, 6-2.
The match between Serena and Obziler started on a very interesting note with breaks and counter breaks till the fourth game, but thereafter, the games went with serve till the 12th game when the former world No.1 stepped up gear and broke the Israeli once again with a deep backhand volley and pocketed the set 7-5.
The highlight of the match was long rallies from the back of the court but unforced errors led to Obziler’s downfall.
To add to that, Serena displayed power tennis to its best with her backhand from deep working wonders for her. However, in the initial phases of the first set, Serena too committed a lot of unforced errors but as the match progressed she managed to cut it down.
Once she pocketed the opening set, there was no stopping Serena as she stormed her way into the quarterfinals giving her opponent no chance to open her account 6-0.
The eight time Grand Slam winner broke Obziler’s serve thrice in the second set and never allowed her any opportunity to comeback.
Serena raced on to 4-0 lead in the second set breaking Obziler’s serve in the second and fourth game with her powerful forehand and backhand deep volleys. She broke the Israeli the third time in the set in the sixth game to set up quarterfinal clash with Anastasia Rodionova of Russia.
On her victory, Serena said: “I am just happy to be here and starting the campaign on a winning note considering the fact that I was not in shape two and a half weeks ago. I am definitely not 100 percent fit.”
She was also quick to pint out her complaints regarding line calls. “The line calls are definitely not good today. I had some issues with the calls.”
Meanwhile, the seed scalping was started by Amanmuradova in the very first match of the day using 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.
Amanmuradova’s big serve was a major factor and she used it to good effect firing 16 aces as compared to Szavay’s two.
In the last two sets, the Hungarian’s backhand, normally a strong point for her did not work as well as it did in the first set and Amanmuradova also used her height to great use in reaching the ball.
“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.
Asked the two seed scalpers Amanmuradova and Rodionova about their game strategy Wednesday, both opined that the conditions are such tough out here that anything can happen on a given day.
“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,” Amanmuradova said.
“The conditions are very tough for everyone, so anyone can anyone. It’s is becoming difficult to adjust because of altitude and the balls are also flying in the courts. But I was confident of winning because I defeated her two years ago,” said Rodionova after her victory against Bammer.
In the doubles quarterfinals finals, top seed Yung-Jan Chan and Chia-Jung Chuang of Chinese Taipei had no difficulty in defeating Japanese pair of Ayumi Morita and Junri Namigata 7-6(0), 6-3, while Amanmuradova teamed up with Olga Savchuk of Ukraine to register yet another upset of the day beating second seed Chinese combination of Zi Yan and Jie Zheng 6-3, 3-6, 10-8.
While wildcard holders Williams’ sisters – Serena and Venus – had to taste defeat at the hands of third seed Shuai Peng and Tian tian Sun of China 7-5, 2-6, 9-11 in the super tie-breaker.
Day Two Results:
Singles:
Akgul Amanmuradova (UZB) defeated Agnes Szavay (HUN) 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-4
Anastasia Rodionova (RUS) defeated Sybille Bammer (AUT) 7-6(5), 6-2
Serena Williams (US) defeated Tzipora Obziler (ISR) 7-5, 6-0
Patty Schnyder (SUI) defeated Akiko Nakamura (JPN) 6-7(1), 6-4, 6-2
Doubles:
Yung-Jan Chan (TPE)/Chia-Jung Chuang (TPE) defeated Ayumi Morita (JPN)/ Junri Namigata (JPN) 7-6(0), 6-3)
Akgul Amanmuradova (UZB)/Olga Savchuk (UKR) defeated Zi Yan (CHN)/Jie Zheng (CHN) 6-3, 3-6, 10-8
Agnes Szatmari (ROU)/Aurelie Vedy (FRA) lost to Ekaterina Dzehalevich (BLR) 6-4, 4-6, 7-10
Serena Williams (US)/Venus Willams (US) lost to Shuai Peng (CHN)/Tiantian Sun (CHN) 7-5, 2-6, 9-11