Chakvetadze stuns Venus to reach San Diego semis
Anna Chakvetadze maintained her good run of form on U.S. hard courts when she staved off a match point before stunning Wimbledon champion Venus Williams 6-7 7-6 6-2 in the quarter-finals of the San Diego Classic on Friday.
The third seeded Russian will meet defending champion Maria Sharapova for a place in the final after the top seed demolished India`s Sania Mirza 6-2 6-1.
Swiss 11th seed Patty Schnyder also advanced with an impressive 6-4 6-4 victory over fourth seed Nadia Petrova to set up a match against another Russian, Elena Dementieva, who overcame compatriot Maria Kirilenko 6-2 6-4.
In notching her 12th straight victory on U.S soil, Chakvetadze wore Williams down from the baseline, sticking to a strategy of moving her taller opponent around the court and hitting behind her.
After blowing two set points at 5-2 in the opener and missing a simple backhand on the American`s first set point in the tiebreaker, Chakvetadze appeared to be heading for certain defeat.
However, buoyed by successive titles at Cincinnati and Stanford over the past two weeks, the Russian kept picking away at Williams, who began to lose control of her groundstrokes.
The 10th seed did maintain her composure long enough to serve for the contest at 5-3 in the second set and even held a match point, but she wasted the opportunity with a double fault.
"I should have done something different, anything to get it in," Williams told reporters.
Chakvetadze then made a strong charge, easily winning the second set tiebreaker 7-3 when Williams missed an easy forehand.
BIGGEST WIN
Williams, who was watched courtside by her sister, Serena, had nothing left in the third set, strewing errors all over the court.
Chakvetadze won the match when she pasted a 105 mph service winner.
"This is the biggest win of my career," said the 20-year-old Chakvetadze, who has won seven career titles.
"I was fighting to the end. It was a very emotional win to beat Venus in the United States, but the crowd was very good and supported me."
Williams said she was exhausted after a long 2007 campaign that included a packed schedule since she arrived at Wimbledon in June, playing Fed Cup three weeks ago and then two straight weeks of World TeamTennis before San Diego.
"I`m at the end of my rope now," Williams said.
"I`m very disappointed. I thought I had a great chance not to lose a match this summer, but I should have planned my schedule better. I`m feeling maxed out."
India`s Mirza came into the match loaded with confidence after reaching the final of the Stanford Classic last week and having beaten eighth seed Dinara Safina in the previous round here.
But she had trouble returning Sharapova`s serves and watched the Russian tear apart her second serve.
Sharapova was in control for the entire match, with Mirza winning only 40 percent of her service points.
"I stepped inside the court and played my game," Sharapova told reporters.
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