EASTBOURNE, England, 17 June 2005 — Defending champion Svetlana Kuznetsova overcame French opponent Nathalie Dechy and the English weather yesterday to reach the semifinals of the Eastbourne WTA tournament.
Two rain delays on a windy day at Devonshire Park made life difficult for the Russian second seed before she won 6-4, 7-5.
The US Open champion now plays former world No. 1 Kim Clijsters who enjoyed a 6-2, 6-2 victory over lucky loser Mashona Washington of the United States.
Kuznetsova did not look comfortable on the grass until the last five games of the 97-minute match.
Eighth-seeded Dechy, who opted to play much of the contest in long trousers to combat the chilly conditions, went 5-2 up in the second set before Kuznetsova held serve to love helped by two aces.
The 19-year-old Russian saved a setpoint in the next game and broke Dechy for 4-5. Her groundstrokes took on new power as she reeled off the next three games to take victory.
The two women had spent more than two hours off court midway through the first set. Early in the second, Kuznetsova took matters into her own hands when rain began falling again. When she slipped going for a forehand, giving Dechy breakpoint, Kuznetsova shook her head and walked to her chair to pack away her racket. Dechy hesitated briefly then followed suit. Umpire Kim Craven watched as the two women disappeared down the players’ tunnel and only then announced: “Play is suspended”.
“It was so slippery on the baseline I almost fell down,” Kuznetsova told reporters. “I didn’t want to play, it was too dangerous.”
Belgian Clijsters, seeded seventh and now 17th in the world after missing most of last year with a wrist injury, rattled through her quarterfinal in 55 minutes.
Clijsters, who had not played on grass for two years before coming to Eastbourne, went 4-0 up in the second set before Washington, who came into the draw after Australian third seed Alicia Molik withdrew because of an ear infection, broke back.
Philippoussis Shows Grasscourt
Form, Petrova Out
In Den Bosch, Netherlands, former Wimbledon runner-up Mark Philippoussis beat Spaniard Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-6, 7-6 yesterday to reach the quarterfinals of the Ordina Open.
The Australian was nowhere near his best but snatched both sets on the tiebreak to win two consecutive matches for the first time since Wimbledon last year. He will now play either Dutchman Sjeng Schalken or Italian Davide Sanguinetti. Philippoussis, who took a wildcard to the event in a bid for more match practice in the run-up to Wimbledon, fended off a strong showing from Garcia-Lopez, whose ranking has climbed from 128 to 81 since the start of the year. A succession of injuries has seen Philippoussis slip to 188, but he has not lost the ability to play on grass, winning the first-set tiebreak 9-7 and taking the second 7-2 to seal victory.
Third seed Mario Ancic won the battle of the big-servers, the Croat beating Australian Wayne Arthurs 6-4, 7-6, to set up a quarterfinal with either Czech Jan Hernych or Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany.
In the women’s event, second seed Nadia Petrova suffered a surprise defeat as she went down 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 to Argentine Gisela Dulko in the quarterfinals. Sixth seed Dulko, the world No. 37, reached her second semifinal of the year where she will meet unseeded Czech Lucie Safarova, who upset Russian fourth seed Dinara Safina 6-4, 6-4. Russian Petrova was outplayed in the first set but varied her game well to win the second, with her old-fashioned sliced forehand keeping Dulko off balance. But the Argentine, who reached her first tour final in Tasmania at the start of the year, broke to lead 3-1 and held her nerve to clinch victory on her third match point.
Earlier, a tearful Michaella Krajicek left the court in a wheelchair after being forced to retire from her quarterfinal with a knee injury.
The 16-year-old Dutchwoman was leading American Meghann Shaughnessy 4-3 when she quit. A scan revealed she has a torn meniscus and she will miss Wimbledon, where he had been hoping to make her senior debut.
