Wild card Razzano stuns Kvitova, reaches semis
Wild-card entrant Virginie Razzano stunned third-seeded Petra Kvitova 6-7 (6), 7-5, 7-6 (8) on Friday in the Southern California Open quarter-finals.
Razzano, ranked No. 131 in the world, squandered four match points and had to stave off two match points from Kvitova in the third-set tiebreaker before the Czech double-faulted to end the match at 3 hours, 35 minutes.
“I was nervous,” Razzano said. “I’m human. I’m not a robot. Sometimes you feel stress. I tried to focus on the points.”
The match was the second longest on the WTA Tour this year behind one between Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Anastasia Rodionova that lasted 3:42 at Charleston in April.
Razzano will face fifth-seeded Sam Stosur of Australia, a 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 winner over second-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland.
Agnieszka’s sister Urszula also departed, beaten 6-1, 6-2 by top-seeded Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, while no. 7 seed Ana Ivanovic of Serbia beat fourth-seeded Roberta Vinci of Italy 6-1, 6-7 (1), 6-2 to advance to the semi-finals.
In the second match of her doubles comeback on the WTA Tour, Martina Hingis and Slovak partner Daniela Hantuchova lost to Americans Raquel Kops-Jones and Abigail Spears, falling 4-6, 7-5, 10-3.
Hingis, the former top-ranked Swiss star in the women’s circuit, was playing her first WTA event in nearly six years.
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Barca crush Santos in Neymar’s party
Barcelona, Aug. 3: Brazilian international Neymar and new manager Gerardo Martino got their first taste of the Camp Nou on Friday as Barcelona destroyed Santos 8-0 to lift the Joan Gamper trophy.
The Brazilians were confirmed for the annual glamour friendly as part of the transfer agreement that saw Neymar move to the Catalan giants in June. But they were hopelessly exposed by a strong Barca side as two goals from Cesc Fabregas, allied to further strikes from Lionel Messi, Alexis Sanchez, Pedro, Adriano, Jean Marie Dongou and an own goal from Leo made it a comfortable evening for the hosts.
However, the biggest cheer of the night was reserved for Neymar when he made his bow at half-time and the 21-year-old made a positive impression despite failing to get on the scoresheet.
— afp
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