Thursday 12 August 2010

WTA Cincinnati - Elena, Francesca out

The majority of seeds in action on Wednesday progressed safely into the last 16 however two were not so lucky. Elena Dementieva, in what she described as her worst match in a long, long time was bundled out in straight sets by Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, 6-1 6-3. A-Pav has been banging on the door for a while and this was a competent win from the young Russian who has a favourable draw going forward in Cincinnati. Dementieva admitted she struggled with the heat so this loss may in that context, not be too much of a worry for Dementieva. Dementieva struggled at the US Open last year bowing out in the 2nd round to Melanie Oudin and admitted she had peaked too early and burnt out after a lot of matches during the summer hard court season. This time round, it is the opposite however it may work in her favour as she will be much fresher this time round for the US Open. Francesca Schiavone was the second seed to go out yesterday after a straight set loss to in-form Elena Vesnina. Things have gone downhill since her Roland Garros win and once again, her long-term future in tennis may be questioned after reaching the pinnacle of her career and achieving that elusive Grand Slam title.

Most of the remaining seeds were in good form; Maria Sharapova eased past Andrea Petkovic, 6-1 6-3 in a match where both struggled to hold serve. Caroline Wozniacki strolled past Sybille Bammer losing just two games, meanwhile Flavia Pennetta bettered that losing just 1 game to Niculescu. Kim Clijsters defeated Dinara Safina, 7-5 6-2 after coming from behind in both sets. Dinara is improving despite the loss however she will lose even more ranking points after reaching the final here last year. Ana Ivanovic also won with an impressive performance against Yaroslava Shvedova meanwhile Vera Zvonareva had to rally from 5-2 down in the final set to defeat Maria Kirilenko 7-5 2-6 7-6. The round of 16 features many of the top players with Radwanska v Sharapova and Wozniacki v Bartoli as the highlight matches for tonight.

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