MASON, OH, USA - Two of the game's brightest young stars set up a blockbuster semifinal battle in Cincinnati on Friday, as Anna Chakvetadze and Sania Mirza both won quarterfinals at the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open. At night, the only former champion in the field, Patty Schnyder, was ousted.
Mirza was the first to advance, beating Belarusian teenager Olga Govortsova easily, 61 61. Mirza, seeded No.3 this week, broke Govortsova's serve in the first game of the match, which seemed to set the tone for the rest of the 50-minute rout.
"I expected it to be tougher, but 61 61 at any stage of a tournament is a pleasant surprise," Mirza said. "I watched her play yesterday, and she was hitting a lot of winners and dictating the plays. I just knew I had to hang in there."
Mirza has won consecutive matches for the first time since coming back from injury, having missed over two months after undergoing right knee surgery at the beginning of March. Her game seems to be picking up steam at an event where she consistently performs well, having reached the quarterfinals in both of her previous attempts.
Next up for the Indian will be No.1 seed Chakvetadze, who advanced with a 67(3) 60 41 retirement victory over Elena Vesnina, when her No.6-seeded countrywoman had to stop playing due to a right shoulder strain. Vesnina was originally leading 5-2 in the first set before Chakvetadze played her way back into it, dropping a tie-break but eventually building a seemingly insurmountable lead.
"It's never good to win a match when someone retires like this, and she's a friend too; but she told me it's not too bad, so we'll see," Chakvetadze stated. "She has started to play better, I felt it today. I've never had an easy match against her."
Chakvetadze and Mirza have played once before, in the semifinals of Hobart earlier this year, with the Russian winning, 64 61.
"She's a very talented player with a huge forehand; in the juniors we played under 18s and we played doubles together, so we know each other," Chakvetadze said. "I'm just focusing on each match one at a time. Tomorrow will be a good match."
"I'm really feeling my confidence coming back," Mirza said. "I lost against her in Hobart. For me it's a no-pressure match. I'll just go out there and have fun."
Next up on Center Court was the only quarterfinal meeting between unseeded players, with Uzbekistani qualifier Akgul Amanmuradova bouncing American Lilia Osterloh, 61 64. Amanmuradova reached the second Sony Ericsson WTA Tour semifinal of her career with the straight set victory over the Ohio native, having already reached a final two years ago in front of her home crowd at Tashkent.
In the semifinals, Amanmuradova will face No.7 seed Akiko Morigami, who ousted the No.2-seeded Schnyder routinely, 63 61. The one-hour, three-minute contest was full of rallies that went the more aggressive Japanese's way for the most part, and she notched her sixth career Top 20 victory.
"I tried not to think about her history here; when I had chances I attacked," Morigami said. "I'm really happy with the way I played today."
"Nothing seemed to work out; I had many chances, but couldn't take them," Schnyder said. "Suddenly my game collapsed, especially on the forehand side, and she didn't really give me any chances. Ending a tournament like this is a horrible feeling."
Morigami has had much-improved results over the last few months highlighted by her maiden Sony Ericsson WTA Tour title at Prague and pushing eventual champion Venus Williams to the limits in the third round of Wimbledon.
"I think I've gotten mentally stronger. Before, I wasn't really strong mentally. I was really negative," Morigami continued. "I learned in Prague that it raises my game just to be positive on the court. It took me a long long time to figure it out. My coach Billy has been telling me to go for it, especially against top players. He's been telling me that for four years and it took me a long time to get it!"
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