By Saumojyoti Singha Choudhury, IANS
Bangalore : Fourth seed Patty Schnyder of Switzerland stormed into the semi-final after halting the march of giant-killer Akgul Amanmuradova of Uzbekistan in a thrilling clash at the $600,000 Canara Bank Bangalore Open tennis here Friday.
Amanmuradova raised visions of another upset when she grabbed the first set but Schnyder fought back to clinch the game 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(1).
The 83-ranked Uzbek’s dream run came to an end but she made World No. 12 Schnyder toil hard on the centre court for 145 minutes.
Amanmuradova broke Schnyder as early as in the first game of the opening set and then held her serve to go up 2-0. Thereafter, the set went with serve but the tall Uzbek saved two break points – first in the sixth game and then in the 10th game – to clinch the set 6-4.
Bad line judgments in the opening set left Schnyder disappointed on quite a few occasions.
Down one set, the Swiss came out with purpose and broke Amanmuradova’s serve in the second game, but the Uzbek drew parity in the ninth game only to lose her serve in the next that levelled the match.
In the tenth game of the set, Amanmuradova saved three break points and the players exchanged deuce six times but Schnyder finished the set with a perfect lob from the back of the baseline.
In the decider, both players broke each other twice – Amanmuradova in the first and third games and Schnyder in the second and eighth. The Uzbek saved three match points in the 12th game to force the tie-breaker.
In the tie-breaker, Schnyder showed her superiority by clinching six points at a stretch to finish the set and match 7-1.
“I had a slow start but later I found my game on my serve. Both of us played tough tennis and the match was up and down till the tie-break but I played better in the tie-breaker,” Schnyder said after her victory.
“It was very hot out there. I had some difficulty in coping with the hot conditions as till today I played all my games at night. It was a bit of change,” Schnyder said.
On the possibility of facing top seed Jelena Jankovic in the semi-final, she said: “She (Jankovic) is a very good player and is the top seed here but I am ready for the challenge.”
Amanmuradova said she was happy with her performance here and will have many positives to take home from the tournament.
“Up 4-2 in the third set I really had a chance but she (Schnyder) did everything right on time. She played very well.
“I am very satisfied with the performance here as for the first time in my career I beat a top 10 player here,” she said.