Zheng and Makarova Reach AEGON Classic Semis

By Chris Oddo

Photo Credit: AFP/Francisco Leong

(June 16, 2012)—On Saturday at the AEGON Classic, Zheng Jie and Ekaterina Makarova accomplished the impossible--they finished a match. It was more than the other four quarterfinalists could handle on a day filled with heavy rains.

Zheng, a former Wimbledon semifinalist, endured a match that took two days to complete and was suspended on four different occasions to outlast world No. 20 Roberta Vinci, 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.

After having endured her share of hardship, Zheng can now sit back and relax as she awaits the winner of the Jelena Jankovic-Misaki Doi quarterfinal, which was called for the day with only two games in the books (Jankovic leads 2-0).

Eighth-seeded Ekaterina Makarova defeated thirteenth-seeded Su-Wei Hsieh of Taiwan in the other completed quarterfinal, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. The 24-year-old Russian completed her comeback from a set down when she saved all three break points she faced and converted on her only opportunity to break the Hsieh serve in the decider.

Makarova will await the winner of the Melanie Oudin-Irina Falconi match in the semifinals. Oudin led Falconi 1-0 in the third when play was suspended for the evening.

Weather permitting, the semifinals will be completed tomorrow, with a Monday final scheduled.

Wickmayer and Cornet to Clash in Bad Gastein Final

Second-seeded Yanina Wickmayer and seventh-seeded Alize Cornet will contest the final of the Nurnberger Gastein Ladies on Sunday, as each came through in straight sets today.

Cornet was the first to advance, and quite remarkably so, as she broke third-seeded Kazakh Ksenia Pervak in all nine of her service games to race to victory 6-2, 6-2.

"I don't think Ksenia liked my game too much," a whipsmart and obviously ecstatic Cornet told reporters afterwards.

In the other semifinal 22-year-old Yanina Wickmayer rode a first set tiebreaker triumph to a straight set victory over Mandy Minella of Luxembourg.

Cornet--also 22--and Wickmayer have met only once, in the final of Luxembourg in 2009. Wickmayer won in straight sets on that occasion.