Defending champ Kim Clijsters set up a mouth-watering clash with Ana Ivanovic on a day of easy wins at Flushing Meadows.
Clijsters won 12 games in a row to beat Wimbledon semi-finalistPetra Kvitova 6-3 6-0, whileIvanovic dropped just two more games in beating France's Virginie Razzano 7-5 6-0.
And third seed Venus Williams continued the theme in the evening session with a 6-2 6-1 win over qualifier Mandy Minella from Luxembourg to set up a last-16 clash with Israel's Shahar Peer.
Kvitova, who lost in the first round of her next five tournaments after her last-four defeat to Serena Williams at the All England Club, raced into a 3-0 lead against Clijsters with two breaks of serve.
That meant the Czech left-hander had already won more games than during her previous meeting with Clijsters - a 6-1 6-1 defeat in Miami this year - but that was as good as it got for the 27th seed.
Ivanovic has dropped to 40th in the world rankings due to injuries and a loss of form, but has lost just 13 games in her first three rounds in New York.
"She and I are good friends and I'm happy to see her doing well again," Clijsters said of Serbian Ivanovic, who topped the rankings after winning the French Open in 2008.
"I followed her very closely obviously when I wasn't playing and saw her win the French Open, but from there she just lost it a little bit."
Told of Clijsters' comments, Ivanovic replied: "That's really nice to hear, because she is such a nice person. Ever since I started on tour, I thought highly of her and really admired her for everything she achieved. I still do. I have great respect for her.
"It's true also when I was struggling, she was messaging me. She was very supportive. That's really rare and really nice to see. In those times, you know who your friends are."
Williams, playing her first tournament since Wimbledon after a knee injury, looked set for a tougher time against world number 185 Minella when the first four games all saw breaks of serve.
But the two-time champion, watched by sister Serena who is out with a foot injury, then won 10 of the next 11 games to book her place in the fourth round.
Earlier in the day, Russia's Elena Dementieva recovered from 5-2 down in the opening set against Daniela Hantuchova to win 11 of the next 13 games to complete a 7-5 6-2 win.
"I did not want to lose that first set, I was just trying to fight for every point and that was the key for the match," said Dementieva, who dropped out of the world's top 10 for the first time in more than three years in August.
"After that I felt so much more confident in the second set and played a more aggressive game."
Dementieva will face French Open finalist Samantha Stosur in the last 16, the fifth seed beating Italy's Sara Errani 6-2 6-3.
Elsewhere in the bottom half of the draw, French Open champion Francesca Schiavone beat Alona Bondarenko 6-1 7-5 and will face Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in the fourth round after the Russian beat Gisela Dulko 6-1 6-2.
No comments:
Post a Comment