Hantuchova out, it’s Maria vs Maria

It was a battle of beauties on court, the glam factor evident in the fight between the second and the fourth seeds. And contrary to popular expectations, it was the Russian, ranked 35th in the world, who held her nerve and played brilliant tennis to show Hantuchova the door 4-6, 6-2, 6-1.

The first set went on expected lines, but from the second, Kirilenko, who last won a WTA title in Beijing in 2005, dug deep into her reserves and there was no looking back. “The first set was tough. In the second I told myself, ‘come on Maria’ and played better,” she said.

The first set saw both seeds holding on to their serves, and taking each game to deuce till the ninth. The ninth saw a moment’s aberration from Kirilenko, who, after fighting off a 0-40 deficit to 30-40, sent a forehand long to hand over the set virtually to Hantuchova. The lanky Slovak made no mistake in holding serve to take the first set 6-4.

But the second set saw a new Kirilenko; perhaps she had fought off the little demons of self-doubt that might have been there in the first. Hantuchova tried everything—forehand passing shots, converting back-hands into forehands by running around shots, and deceptive drop-volleys. But the Russian was always a step ahead. After the match, Hantuchova said: “She had an answer for everything I tried today.”

In the second set, Kirilenko broke in the second, fourth and eighth to take the set. Hantuchova had a brief moment when she broke in the seventh. The third set saw the Russian firing away. Her double handed backhands left the senior pro with no answer and she was soon 3-0 up. Another break in the sixth saw her go up 5-1. Then she just had to hold to make it to the final.

Earlier, Maria Koryttseva overcame a higher-ranked Anne Keothavong to book her first-ever WTA Tour final berth. The 164th ranked Ukrainian got past the 144 th ranked Briton 7-6 (3), 6-3. The first semi-final was a baseline battle with both players using their forehand waiting for the other to blink. And breaks peppered the first set with Koryttseva breaking Keothavong in the first, fifth and 11th game. But the 24-year old Brit returned the compliments in the second, eighth and 12th game.

It was akin to a test of who can get more winners along the baseline. Koryttseva later said, “We were comparing our forehands to see who got the better one.”

The fact that both players were nervous in their first ever WTA tour semi-final was evident from the number of unforced errors that marked their game. With forehands going wide and drop-volleys landing on the net, it looked like the match would go on and on. The two took time to find rhythm with their serves as well.