Russian teen Pavlyuchenkova makes semis
Tennis newsRussian high school student Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova continued her dream run through the BNP Paribas Open by beating seventh-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska 7-6 (8), 6-4 in the quarterfinals on Thursday.
In her first career semifinals, the 17-year-old will meet defending champion Ana Ivanovic, who advanced when scheduled opponent Sybille Bammer of Austria withdrew with a left shoulder injury.
Pavlyuchenkova, the only unseeded player in the last eight, and Polands Radwanska virtually matched each other from the baseline throughout their 95-minute match. In both sets Pavlyuchenkova led 5-3. She blew that in the first set, but in the second she dropped serve only to immediately break Radwanska a fifth and final time for the match with a backhand down the line.
Im very excited, and more and more every day because I keep winning, Pavlyuchenkova said. And its really a big achievement for me. I beat some really good players.
Yet to drop a set, the speedy Russian triggered her breakthrough tournament by eliminating second-seeded Jelena Jankovic in the second round for her first top-10 win. Radwanska was her second.
Pavlyuchenkova and fifth-seeded Ivanovic will meet for the first time.
The other semifinal pits fourth-seeded Vera Zvonareva of Russia against eighth-seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus.
On the mens side, Andy Murray spoiled Ivan Ljubicics 30th birthday by edging the unseeded Croat 7-5, 7-6 (6) in the quarterfinals.
Fourth-seeded Murray extended his career-best start to a season to 19-1. He has two titles already, and was set to face either Roger Federer or Fernando Verdasco of Spain.
Friday, March 20th, 2009 at 9:15 pm and is filed under Tennis news. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
