So that's day 4 of the the WTA championships over with and while it was not the best day of the tournament it did feature some good tennis in between the not so good tennis.
The first match of the day saw two of the 2011 Grand Slam champions go at it, Li Na and Sam Stosur, and Stosur leads the head to head 6-0 going into this one, and well this match didn't prove any different for Stosur's record. Li Na right from the get go was absolutely nowhere in this match as Stosur demolished her in 6-1, 6-0. Li Na failed to even win a game on her serve, the only game she won was a break on Stosur's serve, so this definitely was not the end to the season that Li Na needed, and it sees her very mixed year end on a real low, so I hope things get better for her next year.
In the second match of the day, which was the best of the three, we saw Petra Kvitova take on the very much in form Agnieszka Radwanska, and despite being 5-1 down in the first set, Petra reeled off the next 5 games to take it to a deciding tiebreak, which she won. In the second set the two players shared an intense game at 3-3 on Petra's serve, who after nearly 14 minutes, she won the game. But in the end Petra proved too good for Radwanska, and she won the match and sealed her place in the semis winning 7-6(4), 6-3. Going by her form in this tournament, I definitely think Petra is the firm favourite to win this title now, and she has yet to drop a set. Tomorrow she will play Sam Stosur, which should be a good match, and Petra has won their last meetings already so I think her place in the final could be safe.
So onto the final match of the day, which was a dead rubber match between Victoria Azarenka and Marion Bartoli, who subtituted for Maria Sharapova who withdrew from the tournament due to injury. I was actually quite certain that Azarenka would win this match in straight sets, but Bartoli put in a fine performance, and showed much energy and vigour against the World No.4. After dropping the first set, Bartoli broke in the 2nd and took it 6-4, however in the 3rd Azarenka seemed to lose interest in the match almost altogether, as she half heartedly played against Bartoli, and Bartoli broke again and served it out to win 5-7, 6-4, 6-4.
This was a sporadically good match, but it could have been even better if Victoria Azarenka's attitude was better, but with having her semi finals match tomorrow afternoon, she clearly didn't want to expend too much energy, so she deliberately held back in her game and shots. Personally I was pretty disappointed in Victoria's decision to do this, although I can see why she did it, but she did herself no favours with the crowd as they booed her off at the end. In fact if that match took place in France, the French would have crucified her for it, and she would have deserved it. But I was pleased to see Marion win her only match in the event, and even if it was a dead rubber and she played an apathetic opponent, she put in a good performance. In fact it was a shame she didn't qualify for the tournament because I think it would have been that bit more exciting with her in it throughout. So Bartoli will finish her season next week as she will play in the WTA International Championships in Bali, of which she is the top seed, so best of luck there lass.
So that's the semis set up and good to go for tomorrow, as Victoria Azarenka will play Vera Zvonareva (hope Vera wins! ;-) and Petra Kvitova will play Sam Stosur. They promise to be good ones!
Until then thats it for now.....
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