Bartoli, Wickmayer reach semis in Indian Wells.
Marion Bartoli and Yanina Wickmayer grabbed the opportunity presented in the wide open bottom half with contrasting victories to reach the semi-finals. Bartoli made the best of her new found consistency to upend former world No.1 Ana Ivanovic’s dream of a grand return to top flight tennis with a laborious 64 76(4) victory and become the first player to reach the last four of the $4.5mn BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. Yanina Wickmayer removed the highest remaining seed in the bottom half, when she thrashed the 10th seeded Shahar Peer 63 63 in just 62 minutes.In the first match of the day, Ivanovic failed to produce the tennis she brought to bear on defending champion Jelena Jankovic in the earlier round. Bartoli fired a thumping forehand down the line return winner to earn a breakpoint in the first game. For the third time in the game, Ivanovic drove into the net to offer an early break to the Frenchwoman.
With neither player serving well enough, the first three games went against serve before Bartoli held in the fourth game to take a 3-1 lead. But this was a contest in which the breaks came in a flurry and Ivanovic clawed her way back to even the score by the sixth game.
A sweetly timed lob at 30-30 in the ninth game allowed Bartoli to sniff yet another break and when Ivanovic dumped her forehand in the net, the 15th seed served out the set with an elegantly smashed winner off a weak return.The second set was a see saw battle that contained an astonishing eight service breaks. While there was a lot to be desired about the quality of tennis being produced, the constant breaks of serve were providing for an intense phase that swung one way then the other. Ivanovic began the tie-break much the same way she had the first two sets, gifting Bartoli a mini-break with an untimely double fault.
A sweetly timed lob at 30-30 in the ninth game allowed Bartoli to sniff yet another break and when Ivanovic dumped her forehand in the net, the 15th seed served out the set with an elegantly smashed winner off a weak return.The second set was a see saw battle that contained an astonishing eight service breaks. While there was a lot to be desired about the quality of tennis being produced, the constant breaks of serve were providing for an intense phase that swung one way then the other. Ivanovic began the tie-break much the same way she had the first two sets, gifting Bartoli a mini-break with an untimely double fault.
With Bartoli serving at 5-4, Ivanovic rushed to the net only to dump the volley in the net. The Frenchwoman sealed the match with a big serve and an overhead smash to claim victory in two hours and 7 minutes. The match was characterised by the thirteen breaks of serve, corroborated by the fact that neither player managed to win even half the points on serve.
In the other match, the Belgian 23rd seed was more than Peer could handle on the day. Wickmayer sprayed winners from all parts of the court to completely dominate the Israeli from the sixth game in the first set. At one point, Peer managed to win just a solitary game during a stretch of nine games.The 10th seed offered a token of resistance towards the end by breaking the Belgian in the eighth game of the second set to get to 5-3. But in the very next game, Wickmayer took her first match point with a powerful forehand return that forced an error from Peer to close out the match.
Wickmayer will play Bartoli in the semi-finals on Friday, taking a 0-2 career deficit into the match against the Frenchwoman. Thursday’s action will see the top half contest their two quarter-finals. In what promises to be a cracking encounter, world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki will take on the in form Victoria Azarenka. The Dane has a slender 3-2 career edge against the world No. 9 Belarusian. In the other match, Maria Sharapova will take on the Chinese star Shuai Peng.
Wickmayer will play Bartoli in the semi-finals on Friday, taking a 0-2 career deficit into the match against the Frenchwoman. Thursday’s action will see the top half contest their two quarter-finals. In what promises to be a cracking encounter, world No.1 Caroline Wozniacki will take on the in form Victoria Azarenka. The Dane has a slender 3-2 career edge against the world No. 9 Belarusian. In the other match, Maria Sharapova will take on the Chinese star Shuai Peng.
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