WTA Tour - Keothavong continues Auckland run

Eurosport - Fri, 09 Jan 09:32:00 2009

Briton Anne Keothavong was handed a place in the semi-finals of the ASB Classic in Auckland when Japan's Ayumi Morita retired injured.

TENNIS Anne Keothavong - 0

The world number 60 had just taken the first set 6-0 when qualifier Morita was forced to retire with a hamstring problem.

Keothavong will next face Russia's Elena Vesnina, who triumphed 6-3 0-6 6-3 in a topsy turvy match against Danish second seed Caroline Wozniacki.

World number four Elena Dementieva cruised into the last four of the tournament by defeating Israel's Shahar Peer, who again faced protests over her country's military offensive in Gaza.

The Russian Olympic champion and top seed had little trouble in winning 6-3 6-1, but Peer refused to use the noisy protest by about 20 people outside the tennis centre as an excuse.

The 21-year-old said she had been unaffected by the protest, which ended during the early stages of the match, although Dementieva said the situation in Israel must have affected Peer.

"I'm sure it was a tough day for her because of the situation in her country," Dementieva said. "I'm sure it was not easy to play for her. I just know she can play better tennis next week."

The protesters wanted Peer to withdraw from the tournament and speak out against the Israeli attack of Gaza in which 700 Palestinians have died, but she told reporters she had nothing to say on the issue.

"I'm not the government of Israel and I'm not representing Israel as a politician," she said.

The fifth-seeded world number 39 went into a 3-2 lead in the first set but then crumbled against Dementieva and lost the next nine games.

Dementieva will face the unseeded Frenchwoman Aravane Rezai, last year's runner-up, in one of Friday's semifinals.

Rezai also had a comfortable passage through to the semi-finals, beating Edina Gallovits of Romania 6-3, 6-2.

Gallovits struggled with her serve in windy conditions, missing more than half her first serves and hitting nine double faults.

YOU CAN FOLLOW WATCH FULL HIGHLIGHTS OF ANNE KEOTHAVONG'S SEMI-FINAL MEETING WITH ELENA VESNINA ON BRITISH EUROSPORT 2 FROM 10.30AM ON FRIDAY.

AFP

Comment 1 - 4 of 4

Sort comments by: Most recent

  1. I love Russia.I love Vesnina.She will beat Keo easily.

    From baoanh_milano, on Fri 9 Jan 3:27AM

  2. Best of luck Anne!!

    From rc_alcock, on Thu 8 Jan 8:58PM

  3. WELL DONE ANNE ITS A PITY YOU HAVE TO PLAY ONE OF MY FAVOURITES IN THE NEXT ROUND ELENA VESNINA. THE BEST WILL WIN ANYWAY KEEP UP THE GOOD WORK AND ALL THE BEST FOR 09.
    ALISON.

    From AJ, on Thu 8 Jan 6:22PM

  4. If she beats Vesnina she'll move into the top 50. Britain will then have a girl in the final of a WTA event and a top fifty player for the first time in around ten years. GO ON ANNIE!!!

    From Bobito, on Thu 8 Jan 11:31AM
Sort comments by: Most recent

Not already a Yahoo! user ? to get a free Yahoo! Account