Marion Bartoli against Kimiko Date Krumm, and Aravane Rezai against Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. That’s the semi-final line-up for the Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions.
Rezai was already through to the last four after claiming her second win in two matches on Thursday. She was joined before play even began on Friday by Date Krumm, after Yanina Wickmayer withdrew from the event after receiving a one-year suspension imposed by the Flemish Doping Tribunal because she allegedly broke the "whereabouts rule", which states that players must notify their national doping agency where they can be reached each day.
That meant tournament alternate Vera Dushevina was called in to play Anabel Medina Garrigues. As Dushevina could not claim Wickmayer’s first match victory as her own she could not qualify for the semi-finals, so it was between Date Krumm and Medina Garrigues. If Medina Garrigues beat Dushevina then her record in the round robins would be 1-1, the same as Date Krumm who lost her first match but won her second. Then Date Krumm would have advanced because she had a winning head to head record against Medina Garrigues this week, having beaten her on Thursday. As it worked out, Medina Garrigues lost again, 2-6 6-1 7-5 to end up with a 0-2 record. Complicated perhaps, but that is what sometimes happens with round robins.
Bartoli needed to beat Shahar Peer to top Group A, and with only one win in their previous seven matches things didn’t look good for Bartoli. But, that one win she had came on a fast surface, at Wimbledon, and the speed of the court perhaps once again worked in her favour as she won comfortably, 6-3 6-2. There was only one potentially awkward moment.
"I had to stay really focused at the end because there are so many matches against Shahar when I was winning a set and 4-1 or 3-0 and she was coming back to beat me in three sets," said Bartoli. "I guess the game when I was 4-2 up and 15-40 down and still held my serve I think was really important. My groundstrokes were really strong and deep and I was not doing a lot of mistakes from the baseline, and I think my power was pretty high so I was putting a lot of pressure on her. I think it helps when you hit a lot of winners and few mistakes, usually you win the match."
Martinez Sanchez had quite a battle as she struggled to beat Samantha Stosur 7-6 (7-4) 7-5 to win Group B. The first set went with serve, although Stosur had to save two break points at 2-2 and another at 3-3. In the second set, Stosur broke for 1-0 but dropped her own serve in the next game. Martinez Sanchez then broke again to lead 4-2, held for 5-2, and then held two match points.
But Stosur wasn’t going down without a fight. She hit a couple of forehand winners to escape that crisis, and then pulled the set back to 5-5 to leave her opponent worried about going to a third set. That didn’t happen though, as Martinez Sanchez broke again for the match with a smash.
"It was a really tough match," said the semi-finalist. "It was really close in both sets. In the second set I was winning easier because she was serving not so good as in the first set, but you’ve never won until the last point. She was fighting and fighting and in one moment I was doubting."
Stosur felt she hadn’t done too much wrong.
"She played very well today and I played well, and it’s just one of those things. It’s not like there was anything glaringly obvious. It was just a couple of points here or there or a couple of returns here or there, and before you know it the match is over.
"I definitely felt I was back in the match, to get to 5-all. The momentum changed. I had a few opportunities the whole match, but she hit good serves or I missed a return or something like that. But when I was in those circumstances I did what I should have been doing and although it didn’t come off most of the time today I still think I did the right thing."
In a match that had no bearing on who would reach the semi-finals, Sabine Lisicki defeated Melinda Czink 6-2 6-7 (1-7) 6-4.
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