By Chris Oddo
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Photo Credit: Julian Finney/Getty Images |
(March 2, 2012) – Agnieszka Radwanska’s withdrawal and steady rain put a damper on the BMW Malaysian open Friday. Though her elbow problem is reportedly not serious, the world No. 5 and No. 1 seed thought better of pushing through in the Malaysian capital, instead electing to rest for precautionary reasons.
“She had to manage it carefully and has taken the decision to withdraw from the tournament as a precaution,” said WTA supervisor Pam Whytcross.
“I had a great time and I am happy I decided to play here. I hope to come here again in the future,” Radwanska said.
That piece of bad news was actually good news for Taiwanese qualifier Su-Wei Hsieh, who moves through to her second WTA semifinal in two weeks. “I’m from Asia so perhaps that helps when playing in these climates. But I’m quite comfortable with any weather as long as it is not freezing,” said Hsieh.
Only two semifinal spots have been booked, as rain suspended one quarterfinal match and forced the rescheduling of another.
No. 5 seed Petra Martic was able to notch her second career top-20 win against Shuai Peng in three sets to advance, 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-4. Peng lead 6-5 and was serving at 30-all in the 2nd set before the Croatian rallied to take her third consecutive three-setter. The win also snaps a streak of ten consecutive losses for Martic against top-20 opposition.
Double duty will be the theme of the day on Saturday, as the winner of the Jelena Jankovic-Ayumi Morita quarterfinal will face Martic later in the day.
The winner of the rain-suspended Eleni Daniilidou-Olivia Rogowska quarterfinal will faced a well-rested Hsieh in the other semifinal. Daniilidou leads Rogowska 6-2, 3-2.
Dubs Love:
19-year-old twins Karolina and Kristyna Pliskova (a righty-lefty combo like the Bryan Brothers) advanced to the semifinals with a 7-5, 6-3 win over Wen-Hsin Hsu and Jing-Jing Lu.
The Pliskovas have won two challenger titles already this season.
Today’s Matches:
1. Eleni Daniilidou vs. Olivia Rogowska
2. Ayumi Morita vs. Jelena Jankovic
3. Hsieh Su-Wei vs. [Eleni Daniilidou or Olivia Rogowska]
4. Petra Martic vs. [Ayumi Morita or Jelena Jankovic]
5. Chan/Fujiwara vs. Pliskova/Pliskova
6. Dellacqua/Gajdosova vs. Chang/Chuang