Apia International Sydney Tennis - Australian Open Series

Safina advances to semifinals

Wednesday 14 January 2009 12 Comments »

Dinara Safina has won through to the semifinals of the Medibank International Sydney after winning a tight tussle with Frenchwoman Alize Cornet today.

Despite double faulting on her first match point, the Russian second seed eventually managed to close it out 6-3 6-4.

It’s Safina’s second win over Cornet in as many weeks after the pair met at the Hopman Cup event in Perth last week.

Cornet was clearly struggling to handle the heat late in the second set, taking considerable time to recover between points.

Safina will now meet Japan’s Ai Sugiyama in the semifinals after she was handed a walkover by Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova, who withdrew  with an abdominal complaint.

Kuznetsova, who has beaten China’s Peng Shuai and Estonia’s Kaia Kanepi this week, informed tournament organisers of her decision this morning.

Video: Alize Cornet interview

Tags: Ai Sugiyama, Alize Cornet, Dinara Safina, Svetlana Kuznetsova

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