Anna Chakvetadze’s Winning Streak Continues at the Hands of Venus Williams
Posted by Aaress Lawless on Aug 3, 2007 | Print |
No. 3 seed Anna Chakvetadze has reached her third straight semifinal with a 6-7(5), 7-6(3), 6-2 win over 2007 Wimbledon champion Venus Williams in San Diego at the Acura Classic.
Chakvetadze took off on her recent winning streak after a difficult loss to Venus in Fed Cup, and it was a thrilling stroke of irony that saw her run continue to twelve straight matches tonight thanks to a mediocre performance by Williams.
With back-to-back titles under her belt, Chakvetadze was the favorite in today’s last quarterfinal at the Acura Classic, and for seven games it looked like Venus Williams was in serious trouble. Chakvetadze’s opening service game went to sixteen points before the Russian managed to hold serve, but after she shrugged off the lapse, she quickly raced to a 5-2 lead.
Almost in the same way that she allowed Venus to come back during the second set of their meeting at Fed Cup three weeks ago, a bad case of nerves nearly cost Anna again. She held two set points at 5-2, before two double faults in the game helped Venus grab her first service break.
Venus managed to come back for a 7-6(5), 5-3 lead, but on match point she double-faulted and went on to lose the match in three sets.
Much has been made of the comparison between Anna Chakvetadze’s game and that of Martina Hingis’, and tonight, another similarity was on display - the ability to out-think the better player, even when down match point.
Next up for Anna is a match that will be worth watching - a semifinal against defending champion Maria Sharapova, a player Chakvetadze has never defeated.
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Bob | Aug 4, 2007 | Reply
now..a df on match point is really bad for Venus..
she has to fix that serve..