Tahminah blog

Murray into semis; Clijsters to meet Zvonareva

MELBOURNE, Australia – Andy Murray had a struggle on his hands, constantly trying to find his rhythm against Alexandr Dolgopolov before advancing 7-5, 6-3, 6-7 (3), 6-3 to the Australian Open semifinals and a possible showdown with Rafael Nadal.

Dolgopolov had already beaten 2008 runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and French Open finalist Robin Soderling and has the kind of unorthodox game that can unsettle higher-ranked players.

Apart from the second set, when 2010 finalist Murray didn't lose a point on serve until he had triple set point, momentum swung frequently.

Fifth-ranked Murray will await the winner of Wednesday's later all-Spanish quarterfinal between Nadal and No. 7 David Ferrer. Murray was the only man to beat Nadal in a major last year — here in the quarterfinals. Nadal went on to win the French, Wimbledon and U.S. Open titles and is aiming to be the first man since Rod Laver in 1969 to hold all four majors at once.

U.S. Open champion Kim Clijsters is the growing favorite in the women's draw. She advanced to a semifinal against No. 2 Vera Zvonareva, whom she beat in the last U.S. Open final.

Murray had some challenges in overcoming his 22-year-old Ukrainian rival, who grew up playing with tour professionals because his father was a coach. He seems to have cherry picked a shot or technique from every one of them and bundled it all together.

"It was very tough. Every point is different. He hits the ball different from everyone else — it's tough to explain," Murray said. "It was a very tough match and tough to get my rhythm.

"I'm going to need a little bit more in the next match.

Dolgopolov was able to mix up his slice and spin with deep flat shots, sometimes at the net, sometimes at the baseline, and rarely giving Murray a look at the same ball twice in a row.

Dolgopolov had 77 unforced errors, mainly because he was trying to push Murray to the extremes. In the first set, it took Murray move than 10 minutes and four set points to finally win the 12th game.

He got the better of Murray in a 36-ball rally in the third set, saving three breakpoints and then going on to force a tiebreaker.

Dolgopolov's coach, Jack Reader, left the court after the third set and returned asking "What's going on?" when Murray had opened up a 3-0 lead in the fourth. From then, although he dropped a serve, Murray was able to remain consistent enough to win it.

Clijsters had some nervous moments in her 6-3, 7-6 (4) win over No. 12 Agnieszka Radwanska, but really only when some air force planes flew in formation overhead as part of celebrations for the national holiday.

Cannons went off earlier when Zvonareva started the Australia Day proceedings at Rod Laver Arena with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Petra Kvitova.

Clijsters is the only Grand Slam winner into the women's semis, although she's still seeking her first major title outside of America. No. 1-ranked Caroline Wozniacki and China's Li Na meet in the other half of the draw.

"I hope the experience can help me a little bit," Clijsters said. "But there are some tough players out there, we have Nos. 1, 2, 3 still in and Li Na has been playing really well. So it is going to be really tough.

"I lost to Vera at Wimbledon last year, I beat her in finals of U.S. Open."

Zvonareva has lost the last two Grand Slam finals, to Clijsters in New York and Serena Williams at Wimbledon.

Clijsters was up a set and a break before Radwanska rallied, winning three straight games to lead 5-4 with a chance to serve for the second set.

With six Royal Australian Air Force "Roulettes" flying overhead, Clijsters converted her fourth break-point chance to tie it at 5 and the set went to a tiebreaker.

"I think the planes kind of took me up higher!" joked Clijsters, long a crowd favorite in Australia, where she's still called "Aussie Kim." She also was engaged for a time to former No. 1-ranked Lleyton Hewitt.

"Happy Australia Day everybody," she said in a salute to her supporters.

Zvonareva wore a black ribbon on her hat in honor of the 35 victims of the suicide bombing at a Moscow airport this week. Her quarterfinal also featured a couple distractions.

Zvonareva and Kvitova were surprised when cannons went off in a nearby park. And Zvonareva asked that the match be stopped for a few minutes while a woman in her sight line was given medical attention in the stands, but chair umpire Mariana Alves told them to continue.

"I didn't know they were going to start this noise during our match, it was a difficult moment," said Zvonareva, who led the final set 3-0 before the disruptions but saw Kvitova level it at 4-4. "You're here to play tennis ... I was trying to keep my concentration."

On Tuesday night, defending champion Roger Federer set up a semifinal against Novak Djokovic, who beat him here in the 2008 semifinals enroute to the title. That remains Djokovic's only major.

Federer routed Stanislas Wawrinka 6-1, 6-3, 6-3 in the first all-Swiss quarterfinal at a major. Djokovic eliminated Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych 6-1, 7-6 (5), 6-1 on Tuesday night.