This perhaps should have been the final. But one of the two most exciting players at the Sunfeast Open this year will have to end her essay in the semi-final itself, tomorrow. Second seed Slovak Daniela Hantuchova cruised to the last four, setting up an exciting clash with Russian fourth seed Maria Kirilenko.

Today, she overcame the challenge from eighth seed Yung-Jan Chan of Chinese Taipei 6-4, 6-1. The match saw Chan give her more fancied opponent a scare by breaking her in the third game. But Hantuchova kept her cool and her composure paid off.

She broke back in the sixth, was broken agian in the seventh, but went on to break Chan in the eighth and 10th games to win the set at 6-4. The second set saw her in better control as she broke Chan in the fourth and sixth to wrap it up at 6-1. Chan’s baseline game and down-the-line backhands were nullified by deceptive drop volleys.

The match which began on a more or less even keel soon showed the difference between a seasoned top-10 pro and the also-ran. Hantuchova’s drop shots and cross court stunners left Chan with little chance.

As Chan’s drop-volley found the net, the handful present at the stadium rose in applause. Hantuchova later said: “In the first set I was out of sorts. But in the second I got back into the groove.”

Kirilenko sailed into the semi-finals when she wiped off the challenge from Italian Flavia Pennetta. The only Russian to advance to the last-four stage, she defeated her opponent easily, 6-3, 6-1.

... contd.