Classy Bondarenko in quarters
Oct 7th, 2005

Unseeded Kateryna Bondarenko outclassed No 4 Emma Laine of Finland in a battle of 19-year-olds and reached the quarter-finals of the Tashkent Open today.

Bondarenko, the youngest of the three tennis-playing sisters from Ukraine, made up for sister Alona's loss in the first round with a 6-4, 6-2 in an hour and 20 minutes.

Also through to the quarter-finals today were No 1 seed Ekaterina Bychkova of Russia, No 7 Maria Elena Camerin of Italy and unseeded Russian Elena Vesnina.

Bondarenko, last year's junior Wimbledon champion, combined a smooth display of power hitting, especially on the backhand, with some tremendous retrieving to frustrate the left-handed Laine, ranked more than 50 spots above her in the world.

Several times in the match, and at least twice on crucial points, Laine was forced into errors as Bondarenko ran down shots which she thought were winners.

Said a disappointed Laine, who had lost to Bondarenko in this year's Wimbledon qualifying also: Bondarenko's always a tough opponent for me. I had to be aggressive but I didn't succeed.

I didn't serve well today and that too made a difference.”

Bondarenko now plays No 5 seed Michaella Krajicjek in tomorrow's quarter-finals.

Top seed Bychkova cruised past Arantxa Parra Santonja 6-3, 6-1 in her second-round match.

Parra Santonja said later that she had an upset stomach yesterday and felt very weak on court.

It was quite obvious as Bychkova simply overpowered her with some big serving in just 69 minutes.

“I played much better today than I did yesterday,” said a satisfied Bychkova after her win. “Especially my service. I also tried to put as many balls back as possible and be patient.”

She now plays wildcard Evgeniya Rodina in the quarters. “I've never seen her play but she's won two good matches here, so she must be playing well,” Bychkova said of her fellow-Russian.

Italy's Camerin overcame Swiss Emmanuelle Gagliardi 6-2, 6-1 in a match riddled with mistakes by both players who had teamed together to win the doubles at Guangzhou last week.

Several games appeared never ending as neither player could win two points in a row. The fourth game in the first set was an example, going to nine deuces.

Said Camerin later: “It's always difficult to play well against a friend. Both of us were nervous. It was not a good match.”

Camerin next plays No 3 Antonella Serra Zanetti of Italy.

Nineteen-year-old Elena Vesnina completed the quarter-final line-up with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-0 win over Israel's Tzipora Obziler.

Obziler's experience won her the first set but there was no stopping the flow of shots from the relentless and energetic Vesnina.

In the end, it was the 32-year-old Obziler who cracked. She called for the trainer before the 10 th game of the second set for some treatment to her shoulder but the bigger damage had been done to her mind and she didn't win another game in the one hour, 43-minute match.

Said Vesnina later: “I knew she was struggling towards the end of the second set.”

Vesnina now plays Akgul Amanmuradova in the quarter-finals.

DOUBLES QFINALS

1 Maria Elena Camerin-Emilie Lott bt WC Iroda Tulyaganova Akgul Amanmuradova 6-2, 6-4

Tatiana Poutchek-Anastasiya Yakimova bt Olena Antypina-Hana Sromova 7-5, 3-6, 6-2

Anastassia Rodionova-Galina Voskoboeva bt Alona Bondarenko-Kateryna Bondarenko 4-6, 6-3, 6-2

For more results, Click here