US Open gallery: women’s draw, day 5
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Francesca Schiavone pulled off a great win on Friday when she overcame the Belarussian Victoria Azarenka in three sets 46 62 62.
Talking after the match the Italian who had her best performance at the US Open in 2003 when she reached the quarterfinals said “My tactic was to push her far away, because when she is inside the baseline, it’s not easy to play her. I was trying to hit deep and open the angles up to be aggressive, go to the net, hit good serves – a lot of things. She’s one of the best players so for me it’s great I beat her, also how I beat her.”
Schiavone will next face No.18 seed Li Na who defeated Maria Kirilenko 64 62.
Serena Williams was back in action at Flushing Meadows against Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. Although Serena won in straight sets 63 75 the second set lasted 56 minutes she had her serve broken twice and had to use lobs and passing shots to get passed the tricky left -hander who came to the net 36 times during the match.
“She was serving really well, especially in the second set. I just kept fighting and every time I had a break point I felt I had a chance to win it,” Williams said. “Her style is definitely different. You don’t see it that much anymore. I think doubles can definitely help that, because you get to see people at the net. If I hadn’t been in the doubles it might have been a much different match.”
Serena will next face Daniela Hantuchova who made light work of wildcard Vania King 61 62 With a head to head lead of 7-1 the form books suggest Serena will still be in Flushing Meadow well into the second week.
Following the wins of both Venus Williams and Kim Clijsters there is now the mouthwatering match-up between the two players in the fourth round. Venus Williams, with heavy strapping on her left knee defeated Magdalena Rybarikova 62 75 and Clijsters easily overcame her fellow Belgian Kirsten Flipkens 60 62
Venus was, as is usual, not willing to be drawn on the extent of her injury but she did not look comfortable “Yeah, you know, I had some challenging moments in the match, but I always run after the ball and try to hit it in the court,” she said. “It’s even better if I can hit a winner, so… You know, I was very happy with the win today.”
Clijsters talking after her match was as engaging and down to earth as ever talking about how she felt playing against her friend, Flipkens “Playing someone like Kirsten, it’s really special for both of us,” she said. “I think it was definitely as special for me as it was for her. I never got to experience that. I played Justine (Henin) a lot, but we kind of grew up together, so it kind of felt normal. But to be able to play against the girls that I think looked up to Justine and myself was really special. Especially with Kirsten, we were in boarding school together. There’s a very personal connection there. It was very nice.”
Elsewhere in the women’s third round matches Flavia Pennetta continued her great run when she dispatched Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak 61 61 and Vera Zvonareva scored a 62 64 victory over Elena Vesnina.
