The Russians are Going, Going, Gone

All three Russian women were defeated in the women's quarter finals, to the dismay of the many Russian fans at the Dubai tennis stadium yesterday. The closest match was qualifier Kulikova's valiant effort to make her first semifinal ever (having just made her first quarterfinal ever), but she seemed to tire in the third set and lost to the more accomplished and even player, Radwanska. The Chinese hopeful Na Li had to withdraw in the second set due to injury after losing a close first set to Shahar Peer. Zvonoreva looked completely outmatched both in size and skill by the much more aggressive Azarenka. Finally, Venus looked as strong as ever in outplaying her 18-year-old challenger Pavlyuchenkova in two sets. Venus really stepped up her game at the end to put her away, with several serves over 200 KPH (the fastest I saw, I think this is over 125 MPH), obviously not wanting it to come down to a third set.

I spent 8 hours at the stadium and was wise to slather myself with suntan lotion as otherwise I would be burned to a crisp. I happened to sit next to a very nice woman from Scotland whose husband works for Burt Hill, the architectural firm from Pittsburgh. We were very simpatico having had many similar experiences in getting used to living in Dubai. She draws the line at scubadiving, though. I could probably learn a lot from her!

Today's semifinals pit Venus Williams (USA) against Shahar Peer (Israel), and Victoria Azarenka (Belorus) against Agnieska Radwanska (Poland). Peer has been the biggest surprise of the tournament, especially since her inability to get a visa to play in Dubai last year was front page news, but I have to give Venus a big edge there. Azarenka looks too strong and powerful for Radwanska, although they have split their last four meetings and look very even on paper.

The Williams/Peer match is being played today at 2 p.m. on a side court with room for only a few hundred spectators, a little strange since the center court was packed to see Venus play last night, but it should be interesting! Peer seems to like these courts, where she put away Na Li yesterday.

Prediction: Williams v. Azarenka in the finals tomorrow!