Defending champion Venus kept alive her slim hopes of reaching the semi-finals of the season-ending WTA Championships in Doha.
Defending champion Venus keptu00a0 alive her slim hopes of reaching the semi-finals of the season-ending WTA Championships in Doha.
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Notu00a0going downu00a0withoutu00a0a fight: Venus Williams stretches to make a backhand return against Svetlana Kuznetsova during their WTA Tour Championships match in Doha yesterday night. PIC/AFP |
Venus, needing a win to stay alive after two losses, saw off French Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-2, 6-7 (3/7), 6-4 yesterday and can still sneak into the semi-finals.
Her fate, however, depends on the outcome of Friday's encounter between Kuznetsova and Dementieva.
Meanwhile, Danish teenager Caroline Wozniacki wept and hobbled into WTA Championships folklore.
World number four Wozniacki burst into tears after overcoming Russia's Vera Zvonareva and crippling cramp, while collapsing to the court in searing pain to edge closer to the semi-finals of the 4.55 million dollar season-ender.
Newly-crowned world number one Serena Williams, the 2001 champion, made sure of her place in the last four with a third win in three group matches, seeing off Russia's Elena Dementieva 6-2, 6-4.
But the day belonged to 19-year-old Wozniacki, the US Open runner-up who defeated Zvonareva 6-0, 6-7 (3/7), 6-4 to record her second win in two matches.
Wozniacki ended her 2hr 48min match sobbing after collapsing in agony, her body wracked by cramp, when she was just two points from victory. "I wasn't scared. I was just thinking,'How can I get up from here'? It didn't matter which muscle I was moving, I was cramping," said the blonde teenager who picked herself up to clinch a famous win.
