February 19, 2004
Three of Top Four Seeds in Semifinals
HYDERABAD, India - Three of the top four seeds have played their way into the
semifinals at the WTA Indian Open in Hyderabad.
Defending champion Tamarine Tanasugarn stands one match away from a repeat
appearance in the final after her 63 61 victory against No.6 seed Jie Zheng.
Tanasugarn, the No.3 seed this week, won her only career WTA Tour title in
last year's event and has now won eight straight matches at the tournament.
The Thai No.1 seems to be getting back to form after a sluggish start to the
season. Tanasugarn had lost in the first round at three of her first four
events. This is her first semifinal since reaching the final four in Pattaya
City last November.
Tanasugarn's surprising semifinal opponent is Russian teenager Maria
Kirilenko. Kirilenko is into the semifinals of a WTA Tour event for the
first time following her 61 62 thrashing of Angelique Widjaja. The 17-year-old
Moscow native, who reached the quarterfinals last year in Hyderabad, is
playing in only her second Tour event of the season. Currently ranked No.148
after being outside the Top 400 two years ago, Kirilenko lost to Maria-Eve
Pelletier in the first round at the Australian Open in her only other Tour
appearance this year.
After winning her second round singles match, No.2 seed Marion Bartoli
overcame a scare in her doubles match to get back out on court Thursday
in her quarterfinal match where she defeated Mervana Jugic-Salkic, 75 62.
This marks Bartoli's second semifinal appearance of 2004 after making it
to the semis during the season's first week in Auckland.
At 40-15 in the very first game of her first round doubles match yesterday
with partner Saori Obata, Bartoli was smacked in her right eye by a returned
tennis ball that forced the French player to retire from the match. But after
a little healing time, Bartoli returned to singles action where she's into
the semfinals for the second time this year.
No.4 seed Nicole Pratt also moved into the semis after her 64 75 victory
against No.5 seed Jelena Kostanic of Croatia. The 30-year-old Australian
is a semifinalist for the first time since Birmingham back in 2002.
http://www.wtatour.com/newsroom/stories/NewsArticle_3220_rx.asp
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