It was an awful day for the Russians, including top seed Maria Kirilenko, as they were all ousted in their quarterfinal matches in Banka Koper Slovenia Open in Potoroz.
An Italian, a Spaniard, and a Dane came to win to the three Russian, as Sara Errani stunning top seed Kirilenko 61 75, Anabel Medina Garrigues beating qualifier Elena Bovina 63 62, and Vera Dushevina being ousted by Caroline Wozniacki, 60 61.
Sara Errani, recently winning her first singles title in her home country in Palermo, improved to a 2-0 head-to-head result against the top seed, the first win being in the Sony Ericsson Open.
It was a thrilling match, as Errani won the first set easily, but was not in full control in the second set, leading 5-2, having three match points at 5-3, and holding another three match points at 5-4. The doublefault on Kirilenko's serve at 5-6 helped the Italian on the way to victory, and two points later the match was over, and in the hands of Errani. This is Errani's second semifinal on hardcourts, the first being in Bali last year.
Medina Garrigues, who was the champion at Palermo before Errani, was just too much to handle for Bovina, who has spent nearly three years battling injuries. This is Bovina's first time in the quarterfinals since 2005 in Rome.
Dushevina was the last Russian to be ousted, by Danish rising star Caroline Wozniacki, in straight sets 60 61. Wozniacki turned 18 two weeks ago, and so far, she is enjoying the best season of her career.
In the last singles match of the day, 19-year-old German Julia Goerges advanced to her third career Tour quarterfinal (and second of 2008) with a 63 46 64 win over 17-year-old Croatian Petra Martic.
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