TOKYO, 9 October 2005 — Third seed Tatiana Golovin of France swept past India’s Sania Mirza 6-2, 6-4 and into the women’s final on a windy day at the Japan Open yesterday.
“I’m really happy... it’s going to be really exciting tomorrow,” the 17-year-old Golovin said.
Her opponent in today’s final will be second seed Nicole Vaidisova of the Czech Republic who breezed past fourth seed Maria Kirilenko of Russia 6-4, 6-2 at Tokyo’s Ariake Colosseum.
The eighth-seed Sania, who ousted top seed Vera Zvonareva in Thursday’s quarterfinals looked out of sorts in the gusty conditions despite vociferous crowd support.
A strong wind made conditions tricky but Golovin kept her cool while Sania’s more attack-minded tactics were out of sync with the conditions.
“The wind affected both of us but I think I dealt with it a little better,” Golovin said.
Moscow-born Golovin ended the first set with a stunning drive from outside the right tramlines and streaked into a 5-0 lead in the second set. With the fans noisily supporting the Indian, Sania rallied to 5-2 before rain forced the Center Court roof to be closed.
The Indian superstar quickly put two more games on the scoreboard, but despite loud chants of “Sania Sania,” she surrendered another service game and with it the match.
Vaidisova, then only 15, won the match 6-3, 6-4. The men’s final will see Mario Ancic of Croatia face Jarkko Nieminen of Finland.
Former Wimbledon semifinalist Ancic used his big serve and 21-cm height advantage as he cruised to a 6-2, 6-1 over Germany’s Bjorn Phau in the first semifinal.
Ancic also added that he was looking forward to playing with Goran Ivanizevic in the Davis Cup final against Slovakia in December.
In the second semifinal, Nieminen, who played two three-setters on Friday, was again pushed to the limit as he overcame South Africa’s Wesley Moodie 6-4, 1-6, 7-6.
Marat Safin, Gaston Gaudio, Tim Henman, David Nalbandian and defending champion Jiri Novak all pulled out of the tournament before it started due to injury.
Davenport Reaches
Filderstadt Final
Lindsay Davenport reached her ninth final of the season yesterday when she beat Daniela Hantuchova 6-4, 6-3 at the Filderstadt Grand Prix. The defending champion, who has won four titles and finished runner-up at both the Australian Open and Wimbledon this year, had beaten unseeded Slovak Hantuchova in their previous four meetings.
She will meet Amelie Mauresmo in today’s showpiece after the No. 3 seed beat Elena Dementieva 6-3, 6-4.
“I feel like I served well and that got me out of a lot of trouble,” Davenport said. “She was playing really well off the ground, but because I kept holding I think that put pressure on her to finally make some errors at big times.” The top-seeded American got off to a perfect start, taking a 1-0 lead on her second break point when Hantuchova put a backhand volley wide.
Davenport also held two break points to lead 3-0, but Hantuchova resisted and then settled down to offer a real challenge. She struck some good returns, served well and used her strong forehand to keep in contention.
Davenport had to fight off a break point at 4-3 with a forehand winner and then two more at 5-4 before sealing the opening set with her ninth ace.
The match remained close but Davenport’s serve gave her an advantage and she finished with 14 aces.
Davenport made the breakthrough at 2-2, breaking when Hantuchova put a backhand marginally wide. The Slovak also had to hold off two break points at 4-2, but dropped her serve for a third time as Davenport claimed victory when Hantuchova made a backhand error.
“Having 14 aces always helps the cause and I was finally able to get on top of her,” Davenport said. “I went through a long period where she served really well, but I finally wore her down.” Mauresmo was able to take advantage of Demetieva’s fragile serve as the fifth-seeded Russian hit 12 double-faults. But she still struggled to close out the match in straight sets.
Dementieva was unable to earn any break points in the first set and a forehand error gave third seeded Mauresmo a 5-3 lead.
