HONG KONG—The semi-finals of the prudential Hong Kong Open 2015 on Saturday Oct 15 presented 2 two enjoyable, high quality matches fully appreciated by the spectators. Although 5 of the seeded player were already on their way home, Caroline Wozniacki (seeded 5), Jelena Jankovic (7) and Daria Gavrilova (8) of Australia were still in the tournament.
Gavrilova, who played well to knock out top seed Angelique Kerber in the quarters, was pitted against unseeded Mladenovic of France in the opening game. The next match was between seeds Wozniacki and Jankovic, and this was followed by the 2nd doubles semi-final.
Both of the singles matches were hard-fought affairs with well-matched opponents, resulting in good competitive tennis and close games.
The first semi between Gavrilova and Mladenovic was a well fought even encounter, well contested, with many good rallies. Mladenovic just had the edge on service consistency and powerful shot making, but both players moved their opponents well and produced superbly accurate shots to win points. The 1st very close set went was taken 7-5 by Mladenovic.
The 2nd set was evenly balance at 3-3 but Mladenovic served out the next game with an ace and won a tight advantage game to move to 5-3. Gavrilova force 3 deuces in the final game but Mladenovic finally took the game to win the match 7-5, 6-3.
Jankovic against Wazniacki
The Jankovic to Wazniacki match was outstanding. The equally matched opponents battled for every point – they were both here to win and showed this right from the opening point.
The majority of the rallies were base-line poundings of the ball moving the opponents back and forth across court, followed by electrifying shots down the line and across court to complete each point. Returns of serve, hard-hit cross court shots were reached with comparative ease resulting in fine returns. It was a match to savour, one of the highest quality. Neither player deserved to lose – there were 2 winners on court.
The first set ended 6-3 to Wozniacki, but the score-line does not match the tennis. Each point was contested to the full, many games went to deuce with several iterations of advantage.
Wozniacki applied pressure to Jankovic’s opening service game of the 2nd set securing advantage before breaking serve. She won the next game to 15, and finished off the 3rd game also to 15, with a powerful drive for 3-0. The game had now been in progress for 59 minutes.
In game 4 Jankovic started putting more variety into her shots bringing Wozniacki into the net, playing passing shots to take the first point. She played some delightful drops dipping quickly over the net, but no matter what she did Wozniacki edged the games and moved on to 4-0.
It was then Jankovic’s turn for some success taking the 5th game, after 3 advantage iterations to get on the scoreboard at 4-!. She also won the next game with Wozniacki making several errors and took the following tight game for 4-3. But Jankovic could not keep the sequence going and Wozniacki edged the next game (5-3), and took the 10th game of the set to 15, for a 6-3, 6-4 win.
The final will be between Wosniacki and Mladenovic.
Doubles
The doubles semi-final between Naomi Broady and Heather Watson of Great Britain and Nao Habino of Japan and Aleksandra Nayenova of Bulgaria ended with a straight forward 6-2, 6-1 win for Braody and Watson. Broady and Watson will meet the top seeds Chan Hao-ching and Chan Yung-jan of Taiwan in Sunday’s final.
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