CBSSports.com w Playing his second match of the day, Sergiy Stakhovsky of the Ukraine downed top-seeded Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (4) on Thursday to reach the semifinals of the Pilot Pen tennis tournament.

Stakhovsky changed speeds throughout the match, and used slices and drop shots to keep Baghdatis running. In the end, it was the ninth seed advancing to Fridays semifinals.

“I had to make a lot of sprints, you know,” Baghdatis said. “I felt my legs a bit tired after. I couldnt be 100 percent.”

Stakhovsky saw his first-round match on Tuesday suspended by darkness and finished that Wednesday, beating Australian Peter Luczak 6-3, 7-6 (4). He started his third-round match Wednesday night against Spaniard Tommy Robredo, before that was suspended by rain in a first-set tiebreaker. Stakhovsky won the tiebreaker 7-5 when the match resumed Thursday morning and finished off the sixth seed in the second set, 6-2. He was back on the court against Baghdatis a few hours later.

“I would say I have a nice long streak here in tennis,” he said. “I dont need a hotel. I could sleep in the lounge.”

Stakhovsky will play Thiemo De Bakker on Friday in the semifinals. The Dutchman, whose ranking has moved this year from No. 96 to No. 52, beat Evgeny Korolev of Kazakhstan, 6-4, 6-2.

In the womens draw, three Russians played their way into the semifinals, while top-seeded Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark advanced without ever taking the court.

Wozniackis opponent in the quarterfinals, Italys Flavia Pennetta, withdrew from the tournament with an injury to her right foot.

“I never like to withdraw, but my foot has been bothering me since last week and I knew that I would not be able to finish the match, so I decided to pull out and not risk any further damage,” she said.

Wozniacki, who played two matches Monday to win in Montreal before playing here Wednesday, said she was happy to get the night off.

“I can relax a little bit,” she said. “I can come back tomorrow strong and rested.”

Wozniacki will play Elena Dementieva in the semis. The fourth-seeded Russian needed almost three hours to beat Marion Bartoli of France 6-3, 3-6, 6-2. It was her second successive three-hour match after beating Kateryna Bondarenko on Wednesday 7-6 (4), 6-7 (5), 6-4.

“Sometimes you have to go through such a difficult match, very long three sets, to feel your game, to feel your confidence,” she said.

In an all-Russian quarterfinal, Maria Kirilenko beat Dinara Safina in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3. Kirilenko said shes not surprised so many Russians are doing so well on the Tour.

“We work a lot,” she said. “Thats why I think we have good results, you know. Because to have a talent, its not enough. You have to be patient. You have to work a lot. You have to fight. Everything together. So I think thats why we have so many Russians.”

She will play Nadia Petrova on Friday, who also advanced in straight sets, 6-2, 6-1 against Australian Samantha Stosur. Petrova had four aces and won 82 percent of her first-serve points.

“I got a lot of free points with [my serve],” she said. “I just really tried to stay consistent with the returns. My goal was to have a good power behind the ball and also be consistent with my shots, not to give too many free points.”

Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan will play Serbian Viktor Troicki in the other semifinal Friday. Troicki beat Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic 6-2, 6-3, while Istomin needed three sets to get by Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (8).

Posted on August 27th, 2010 by admin
Filed under: Tennis news