Thursday 16 February 2012

McHale fights past Peer to make Quarters in Doha

Yesterday saw seven seeds crash out but today was a much more routine day at the office as the four highest seeds left in the competition all progressed to the quarter-finals.  The only match that went to three sets was between Christina McHale and Shahar Peer; McHale produced a fighting performance to come back from a set down to win 4-6 6-3 6-4.  In the second set. McHale saved eight break points as she reached her first quarter-final at a Premier 5 WTA event.  The young American has been slowly improving over the past year and although there are some question marks over her mental toughness, she has a solid game and constructs her points very well.  McHale will play Agnieszka Radwanska in the next round who saved two set points in the first set before easing past Varvara Lepchenko, 7-5 6-1.  Lepchenko led 5-4 40-15 in the first set but failed to take her chances as Radwanska rose to the occasion.

Agnieszka Radwanska

In other matches, Victoria Azarenka continued her dominance in 2012 as she thrashed Simona Halep, 6-3 6-1.  She will play Yanina Wickmayer in the next round who was clinical in beating Ksenia Pervak, 6-4 6-0,  The first set was a break-happy affair with seven breaks, but Wickmayer sorted out her serve in the second set to claim a bagel.  The only seed to fall on day 4 was Svetlana Kuznetsova who lost out too Caroline Wozniacki's conqueror Lucie Safarova in a tight two setter, 7-6 6-4.  Kuznetsova produced a great performance to topple Maria Kirilenko yesterday but once again, showed her alarming inconsistency on the WTA tour.  Safarova will play Marion Bartoli in the quarter-finals after she defeated Tsvetana Pironkova, 6-3 6-3.  The final quarter-final will be played out between Sam Stosur and Monica Niculescu as both beat lower ranked opponents in straight sets.

Lucie Safarova

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