By Anil John/Doha
After four days of carnage, a sense of normality returned to the Khalifa Tennis Complex yesterday when the remaining four seeded players in the draw advanced to the semi-finals of the Qatar Total Open.With 12 of the 16 seeds crashing out over the first four days, it was left to Victoria Azarenka, Samantha Stosur, Marion Bartoli and Agnieszka Radwanska to rescue the tournament, and much to the relief of the organisers, they did exactly that. Stosur and Bartoli, the third and fifth seeds, were nevertheless taken to three sets, and had their opponents Monica Niculuscu and Lucie Safarova showed a bit more resolve, maybe things would have been a bit different.In Bartoli’s case, it was her superior fitness that proved the key as she ousted giant-killer Safarova 7-5, 4-6, 6-1.Safarova, who got a hard draw, was faced with a third straight seeded opponent in Bartoli and it would have required a Herculean effort on her part to score yet another upset win, especially considering the fact that her victories over the second seed Caroline Wozniacki and the 14th seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova had come after tough matches.“It was a tough match, to play against Marion,” said the 25-year-old Safarova. “I gave her a good fight in the first set and also the second, but she was far too good for me in the final one,” the winner of four WTA titles added.“But in the end I am happy with the way I played in Doha.” Safarova broke Bartoli first in the seventh game of the first set to take a 4-3 lead, but the French ace immediately returned the favour with a break on the next to draw level.Safarova secured another break to lead 5-4 and was presented with the wonderful opportunity of holding serve and closing out the match, but a brilliant crosscourt return left her stranded on one side of the court as Bartoli made a desperate bid to stay in control.Safarova didn’t do herself any favour by committing a couple of crucial errors, including putting an easy shot long to help Bartoli level 5-5. The French ace then won the next two games to gone one up. Bartoli, however, lost her focus in the second set, going down a break in the third game and never recovered from it as the match went into the third set.By this time Safarova was showing signs of exhaustion and when Bartoli won the first game at love, it pretty much was a sign of things to come. The Czech then lost the second game, too, at love to give Bartoli the first break and the Frenchwoman secured another break in the sixth to go up 5-1 before closing out the match with ease.“Lucie played well but I have my superior physical fitness to credit for my win,” said Bartoli, who will meet Stosur in the final.In a late match, fourth seeded Agniezska Radwanska of Poland defeated the USA’s Christina McHale to set up a semi-final clash with Azarenka today. Radwanska, ranked six in the world, won 6-1, 6-1.
RESULTSWomen’s Singles - Quarterfinals[1] V Azarenka (BLR) d Y Wickmayer (BEL) 6-0 6-4[3] S Stosur (AUS) d M Niculescu (ROU) 62 2-6 6-3[4] A Radwanska (POL) d C Mchale (USA) 6-1 6-1[5] M Bartoli (FRA) d L Safarova (CZE) 75 4-6 6-1Women’s Doubles - Quarterfinals[1] L Huber (USA) / L Raymond (USA) d [7] J Goerges (GER) / J Zheng (CHN) 6-7(2) 7-6(3) 11-9[5] N Llagostera Vives (ESP) / A Rodionova (AUS) d [4] M Kirilenko (RUS) / S Lisicki (GER) 6-4 6-7(3) 10-7K Barrois (GER) / A Groenefeld (GER) d K Jans-Ignacik (POL) / K Mladenovic (FRA) 6-2 6-3TODAY’S ORDER OF PLAY CENTRE COURT start 4:00 pm[1] L Huber (USA) / L Raymond (USA) vs K Barrois (GER) / A Groenefeld (GER) Not Before 6:00 PM[3] S Stosur (AUS) vs [5] M Bartoli (FRA) [1] V Azarenka (BLR) vs [4] A Radwanska (POL) COURT 1 start 4:00 pm[5] N Llagostera Vives (ESP) / A Rodionova (AUS) vs R Kops-Jones (USA) / A Spears (USA)