Friday, March 20, 2009

Pavlyuchenkova continues to win; Ivanovic is up next

Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova is having a breakthrough fortnight, after she ousted No. 7 seed Agnieszka Radwanska in tough straight sets to get to the semifinals of the BNP Paribas Open, where she will face defending champion Ana Ivanovic for a final berth.

The Russian surprised everyone with the win, as she beat the Pole with a score of 76(8) 64.

"I thought about previous matches against her and just tried to avoid all of the mistakes I made before," Pavlyuchenkova said. "The last time I played her was at Wimbledon last year. I think my game has improved a lot since then. I'm also more confident now. All these things, all these elements came together this time. Maybe this was just the time to beat her. I'm very happy about this win."

"It's my first time in the semis, so I'm very happy," Pavlyuchenkova said. "I've played Agnieszka five or six times already so I'm so happy I beat her. She's a very tough player for me. The way she plays and all of our matches are tough. But today I just thought I don't care about the result, I'll just play my game."

No. 5 seed Ivanovic won her match to No. 23 seed Sybille Bammer, after the Austrian retired due to a left shoulder injury.

"At practice yesterday and this morning when I was warming up, I just couldn't continue," Bammer said. "It's the first time I've had problems with my shoulder. Tonight I'll have an MRI to check the shoulder, then I'll rest and hope I am fine for Miami. I'm very disappointed, because I was playing better and better. Two years ago I beat Ana here, so it's very frustrating for me to have to pull out."


Thursday, March 19, 2009

Singles - Quarterfinals
(5) Ana Ivanovic (SRB) d. (23) Sybille Bammer (AUT) w/o (left shoulder injury)
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) d. (7) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) 76(8) 64

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