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| April 13, 2003 | Sunday | Safar 10, 1424 |
Serena wins, Harkleroad shocks Hantuchova
CHARLESTON (South Carolina), April 12: Serena Williams sailed into the semifinals of the 1.3 million-dollar WTA Tour event here on Friday, where she was joined by surprising US youngster Ashley Harkleroad.
Playing in her first career WTA Tour quarterfinal, Harkleroad needed less than an hour to roll past fifth-seeded Slovakian Daniela Hantuchovaher Slovakian foe 6-2, 6-1.
Harkleroad dictated play from the baseline, never allowing Huntuchova to find any rhythm on her ground strokes. Her opponent committed a whopping 41 unforced errors.
“I’m really actually having a lot of fun out there and playing my best tennis, and it just feels like everything is just falling into place,” said an exuberant Harkleroad, a wild card entry here.
Harkleroad, who will turn 18 in May, has been limited in the number of events that she has been allowed to play by the WTA Tour’s age eligibility rule, which states that a 17-year-old may play just 13 professional events plus the season-ending Championships.
Harkleroad hinted that the age rule may have been one of the reasons that she has struggled prior to this week’s event.
play) will definitely help me to get a good rhythm. That’s what I’m excited about the most for me turning 18, is to be unrestricted.”
Harkleroad’s opponent on Saturday will be second seed Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium, who thrashed former champion Mary Pierce of France 6-2, 6-3.
Earlier Friday, third seed Lindsay Davenport of the United States beat Vera Zvonareva of Russia 7-6 (7/3), 6-3. She advanced to her first semi-final at this event by using her superiority at the net, winning 20 of 21 approaches.
“I’m really happy about that,” Davenport said. “I’ve been trying to come in more, and I think I actually stopped doing that a little bit at the beginning of this year and feel like I kind of found my rhythm again being aggressive and trying to come in on points, especially on clay.”
Davenport will play world number one Williams, who downed sixth-seeded Yugoslav Jelena Dokic 6-2, 6-2 to remain undefeated in 2003.
Results: (prefix number denotes seeding):
Quarterfinals: 1-Serena Williams (U.S.) beat 6-Jelena Dokic (Yugoslavia) 6-2 6-2; Ashley Harkleroad (U.S.) beat 5-Daniela Hantuchova (Slovakia) 6-2 6-1; 2-Justine Henin-Hardenne (Belgium) beat Mary Pierce (France) 6-2 6-3; 3-Lindsay Davenport (U.S.) beat Vera Zvonareva (Russia) 7-6 (7-3) 6-3
CASABLANCA: Top seed and defending champion Younes El Aynaoui of Morocco reached the semi-finals of the Grand Prix Hassan II tournament on Friday, coming from a set down to defeat Nicolas Massu of Chile 4-6 6-3 7-5.
Massu, Chile’s number-three player, began well but never got the edge over a confident El Aynaoui, who especially in the decisive third set had the home crowd rooting for him.
El Aynaoui next meets his Davis Cup partner, fellow-Moroccan Hicham Arazi, who earlier on Friday beat Frenchman Olivier Mutis 3-6 7-6 (11-9) 6-4.
Fourth-seeded Slovakian Dominik Hrbaty, who beat Argentine qualifier Federico Browne 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-0, will play the other semi-final on Saturday against Julien Boutter of France, who defeated Brazilian Flavio Saretta 7-5 7-6 (7-5).
Quarterfinals: 1-Younes El Aynaoui (Morocco) beat Nicolas Massu (Chile) 4-6 6-3 7-5; 4-Dominik Hrbaty (Slovakia) beat Frederico Browne (Argentina) 6-7 (5-7) 6-3 6-0; Hicham Arazi (Morocco) beat Olivier Mutis (France) 3-6 7-6 (11-9) 6-4; Julien Boutter (France) beat Flavio Saretta (Brazil) 7-5 7-6 (7-5)
ESTORIL (Portugal): Semifinal results from the $665,000 Estoril Open ATP/WTA tennis tournaments on Saturday:
Men: Nikolay Davydenko (Russia) beat 7-Max Mirnyi (Belarus) 6-4 3-6 6-3
Women: 2-Magui Serna (Spain) beat 3-Virginie Razzano (France) 6-0 6-1 Julia Schruff (Germany) beat Emmanuelle Gagliardi (Switzerland) 6-3 6-4—Reuters
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