Australian Open - (Women Singles) - Semi finalists spotted

At Adelaide, Australians amassed runs and pushed India to the brink – now another defeat threat looms large and India will have to score 400+ to avoid a follow-on and an Innings defeat.  If only the famed batting line up battles at least once, we should be through – remember the batting line up has remained unchanged despite the reverses and there is some gloom lit large.

At Melbourne, the Australian Open is on and the Semi line up in women is set-up, somewhat not on expected lines.   Kim Clijsters battled through searing heat and an ongoing ankle injury to reach the semi-finals with a 6-3 7-6 (7-4) win over Dane Caroline Wozniacki.   She meets Belarusian Victoria Azarenka, who fought back to defeat Pole Agnieszka Radwanska 6-7 (0-7) 6-0 6-2.  one cannot hazard any guess on whether the injury torn Clijsters would last through, though she is displaying fine form.

On the other half, there were not many surprises as Second seed Petra Kvitova and fourth seed Maria Sharapova have reached their appointed positions.  The dream run of Ekaterina Makarova  ended with  Maria Sharapova defeating her  in straight sets 6-2, 6-3  this morning.  The unseeded Makarova, had earlier bundled out  an erratic Serena Williams in straight sets on Monday. Kvitova meanwhile defeated 24-year-old opponent Sara Errani, ranked No.48- it was a battle of contrasting heights as Errani, only 164cm herself, played the 182cm opponent Petra Kvitova.

In the QF earlier Kim Clijsters  sent packing  the top seed Caroline Wozniacki.  Third seed Victoria Azarenka has broken through the brick wall that is Agnieszka Radwanska to progress to the semifinals of a major for just the second time in her career.  Azarenka fought back from a set behind after getting whitewashed in the tiebreak to dominate the next two sets, running away with a 6-7(0) 6-2 6-0 win. 

With regards – S. Sampathkumar.