Sunday, September 21, 2008

"I'm a steamroller baby..."

The formidable Nadia Petrova took only one game off of Dinara Safina in the semifinals of the Toray Pan Pacific Open, and the equally formidable Svetalana Kuznetsova took only one game off her her in the first set of today's final. The second set was much more competitive, with many games going to deuce. Though Safina's first serve stats were lower in quality in the second set, her second serve stats increased significantly in quality, so she was covered in that area. In an hour and eighteen minutes, it was over, and Kuznetsova had won only four games.

It is now clear that when Safina's serve is working, she is pretty hard to beat. The Tokyo title is her fourth this year, and she has been in three other finals, including Roland Garros and the Olympic gold medal match. With Safina's emergence, Jankovic's progress, Dementieva's progress, and Serena's return to the top, we should have an interesting autumn indeed.

Safina def. Kuznetsova, 6-1, 6-3

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