Young Guns Through to Portoroz Semis

It was a tough day for the Russians at the $145,000 Banka Koper Slovenia Open on Friday, going 0-3 in quarterfinal action, including the loss of No.1 seed Maria Kirilenko.
 
On the flip side, both Latin players competing on Day 5 of the Tier IV, hardcourt tournament advanced, with No.8-seeded Italian Sara Errani ousting Kirilenko, 61 75 and No.4 seed Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain defeating qualifier Elena Bovina, 63 62.
 
Errani, a recent winner of her first Tour singles title in Palermo, improved to 2-0 lifetime against Kirilenko, having scored a third-set tie-break victory in the second round of the Sony Ericsson Open in March.
 
While Friday's match didn't quite go the distance, the second set had its fair share of drama. Errani raced to a 5-2 lead but only converted on her seventh match point in the 12th game of that set, after leading 40-0 on serve at 5-3 and holding another three match points on Kirilenko's serve at 5-4. A Kirilenko double fault at 5-6 didn't help her cause, and two points later the Italian was through to her second career Tour semifinal on hardcourt (the first being at 2007 Bali).
 
Medina Garrigues, whom Errani succeeded as Palermo champion - the Spaniard is a four-time former champion in Sicily - was simply too good for Bovina, who has spent much of the past three years battling foot and shoulder injuries.
 
Bovina's run to the last eight here was her first Tour quarterfinal appearance since reaching the Rome quarterfinals in May 2005.
 
The third Russian to bow out on Friday was Vera Dushevina, a 60 61 victim of Danish rising star Caroline Wozniacki, who turned 18-years-old a fortnight ago and who is enjoying the best season of her fledgling career.
 
In the last singles match of the day, 19-year-old German Julia Goerges advanced to her third career Tour quarterfinal (and second of 2008) with a 63 46 64 win over 17-year-old Croatian Petra Martic.
 
The doubles semifinals were both one-nation affairs, with top-seeded Spaniards Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual - winners of the Roland Garros doubles title early last month - defeating compatriots María José Martínez Sánchez and Arantxa Parra Santonja, 76(3) 63.
 
An all-Russian doubles semifinal saw Dushevina Ekaterina Makarova defeat Ekaterina Bychkova and Vesna Manasieva, 63 63.
 
The doubles final is set down for decision on Saturday evening following the two singles semifinals, the first of which - Medina Garrigues vs. Goerges - commences at 19.00hrs local time.

Go Back