Jan 25 2009
Thrills and Spills at 4th round crunch time - Serbia gone
Two gutsy modern amazons are through to the fifth round of the Australian Open tennis slugfest. With determination and powerful play, plus a few scares, 22 year old Dinara Safina of Russia won a 3-set battle against promising 19 year old Alize Cornet of France.
No. 3 seed Dinara Safina struggled in her second set against Cornet, just 19 for two days, and also looked in trouble in the third when down 2-5. Yet, as we know from Wimbledon last year, Safina can fight back from extreme situations. Safina is not a careful player, and goes for strong shots no matter what the score. In the end she won 6-2 2-6 7-5 courtesy of that nail-biting 59-minute final set.
Photo (left) shows the athleticism of Safina.
The other promising star from France, Marion Bartoli, has been nipping around a top 10 place for a couple of years and, win or lose, she always impresses with her determination. At 5 ft 7, Marion is a ’shorty’ in the modern game and yet she powered through No. 1 seed Jelena Jankovic with a straight sets win 6-1 6-4. That was the end of Serbian hopes this year. Bartoli has been a semi-finalist at the US Open and a popular runner-up at the 2007 Wimbledon final. Her next match, against No. 7 seed Zvonareva could also be a thrilling encounter.
Photo (right) shows the determination of Bartoli.
