Day Five at the AEGON Classic

Written by: Staff on 11th June 2010

Day Five at the AEGON Classic |

Maria Sharapova reached the semi-finals today at the AEGON Classic with a straight sets win over qualifier Sesil Karatantcheva 6-2 6-4. It is her seventh appearance at the AEGON Classic and she has always reached the semis or better every time she has played here.

After her match she commented: “It was definitely good to get back out there. I haven’t played her in a while – she’s having a good career and playing some good tennis this year.

“It was encouraging and I didn’t want to be out there any longer than I needed to be! I’m here to play tennis, play matches and get ready for Wimbledon. Whether it’s a bowling green or centre court, I don’t care where I play – I just want to go out and play tennis!”

Yanina Wickmayer, the number three seed, who put Laura Robson out yesterday lost to the American Alison Riske 7-6 (5) 4-6 3-6 who came through qualifying and defeated the ninth seed Aleksandra Wozniak to reach the quarter-finals and now Wickmayer to reach the semis.

Riske will play Sharapova in the first semi-final tomorrow.

The other semi-final will be contested between the French player Aravane Rezai and Na Li.

Fourth seed Rezai defeated Italian Sara Errani 7-6 (2) 7-5 as Errani played her second match of the day. The number one seed, Li defeated qualifier Kaia Kanepi from Estonia 6-4 6-2.

The doubles competition also got into full swing today, but it wasn’t a good day for the Brits as Laura Robson and her partner Heather Watson lost to the American pairing of Liezel Huber and Bathanie Mattek-Sands 6-4 6-4. The British youngsters were 2-0 up in the first set, but the Americans experience saw them through in the end.

After the match Watson said: “It was a tough draw for us – we got the top seeds in the first round, but we played well. They were definitely the more experienced – they have played a lot of their game as doubles. We did well though – only one break that separated both sets and we’re doing well as a team!”

Sarah Borwell, the British doubles number one and her partner the American Raquel Kops-Jones also went out. They lost 1-6 6-4 6-10 on Court Three.

Anne Keothavong and Melanie South also lost 7-6 (3) 6-3 to the pairing of Marie-Eve Pelletier from Canada and Ipek Senoglu from Turkey.

Play starts tomorrow on Centre Court at 12 noon. Tickets are still available to catch the remaining action from the Edgbaston Priory Club and with the Family Fun weekend running over the two days there is plenty on offer for everyone.

For order of play, main draw singles and doubles and for more information visit www.aegonclassic.co.uk.

Topics: Aegon, Alison Riske, Americans Experience, Bathanie Mattek, Bowling Green, French Player, Full Swing, Heather Watson, I Don T Care, Kaia Kanepi, Liezel Huber, Maria Sharapova, Match Of The Day, Rezai, Sara Errani, Sesil Karatantcheva, Straight Sets, Tennis Play, Wozniak, Yanina Wickmayer