BEIJING—Where did this Martin Klizan come from? The answer is, from the qualifiers. This is a player who was, just a few days earlier down a set and 1-5 to a player ranked 800 in the world, and here he played one of the best games I have seen this year. He created a sensation knocking world No.2 Rafael Nadal out of the 2014 China Open on Friday.
It isn’t the first time Klizan would find himself deep into the men’s draw all the way from the qualifiers. He’s done it a few times already this year. As a lucky loser, starting from the qualifiers, he reached the third round, his best result in the Australian Open. He even won the Munich Open coming all the way from the qualifiers, beating better-ranked players such as Mikhail Youzhny and Tommy Haas on the way to the final.
Klizan, a lefthander, currently ranked 56 in the world, gave Nadal his toughest match so far at the China Open. With his consistent, aggressive, very similar game to Spain’s top player, the question we all asked was, how long can he possibly last with Nadal? Well, it turns out he lasted pretty long in what was one of the best matches of the 2014 China Open.
He lost the first set in the tiebreak 9-7, but started strongly in the second set. Nadal took the lead 4-2, but Klizan wouldn’t let go; he had his feet inside the baseline, jumping into the shots and earned himself the second set 6-4.
He started the third at an incredible pace, moving Nadal from side to side, making Nadal move forward and play at the net in order to win points. He really had to work to survive this match and stay in it. Back to back aces were rolling in from the 25-year-old Slovak, both players breaking each other and fighting like there was no tomorrow.
He believed he could do it, continued to stay aggressive and got rewarded with the biggest win of his career finishing the match 6-7(7), 6-4, 6-3. The question now is can he do it tomorrow again?
Murray Stops Cilic
Andy Murray put a stop to Marin Cilic’s unbeaten run since the U.S. Open. He’s done it 10 out of 12 times, including today’s 6-1, 6-4 victory. Cilic, the world No.9, is the highest-ranked opponent Murray has beaten since winning Wimbledon last year. Murray himself is on a winning run in Asia and hasn’t lost a match since taking the wild card in the Shenzhen Open.
He used quite a bit of slice on his backhand to make the 6' 6” tall Croatian player bend his knees and mix up the game. Cilic, known for having a consistent and powerful serve wasn’t able to use it today, as only 47 percent of his first serves hit the target. Murray broke Cilic three times in the first set and gained enough confidence to close out the match.
“It was a good win. First set I didn’t make many errors. I played solid. I returned well. I moved well throughout the match,” said Murray.
Djokovic Advances
Waiting for Murray in the blockbuster semifinal is No.1 Novak Djokovic. The two have met 21 times in the past. Djokovic leads the rivalry 13-8. “I haven’t played him here, but his form here; he’s never lost, which is very impressive,” said Murray. It’s going to be a difficult but exciting semifinal.
Grigor Dimitrov wasn’t able to follow in his girlfriend Maria Sharapova’s footsteps and reach the semifinal. Djokovic, who won his 22nd match at the China Open, stopped the Bulgarian player 6-2, 6-4. It was a bit cold today, which suited Djokovic’s game. He mixed up the pace, gave his opponent high balls to the backhand, and served well. Everything seemed to be going his way. He said he was ready for Murray and has seen some of his matches this week.
“He’s hitting the ball very well. Every time I play him, it’s a huge challenge. It’s a very physical match. A lot of long rally exchanges. I do not expect anything less then that tomorrow,” said Djokovic.
Isner Falls to Berdych
In the other quarterfinal, Tomas Berdych won against his doubles partner, American John Isner 6-1, 6-4 in just over an hour. The Czech won 73 percent of points on his serve. He has now moved up to No. 7 in the Emirates ATP Race to London, where he is looking to play at the season’s final for the fifth year in the row. Berdych will meet Klizen in the semifinal.
Women’s Quarterfinals
Defending champion Serena Williams was forced to pull out of the China Open due to a left knee injury. The 33-year old struggled with a swollen knee this week, skipping the press conference last night because of it. This is the second default by Williams in the last two weeks. She pulled out of Wuhan due to a viral illness; her sister Venus pulled out of her match in Beijing and now once again Serena seems to be struggling.
Simona Halep joined Venus and Serena in withdrawing from the 2014 China Open. The No.2 in the world injured her left hip in the first set of a tough match against Zhu Lin on Tuesday, Sept. 30. On Thursday afternoon, it took the Romanian three sets to take down No. 17 Andrea Petkovic in a very tough match. Playing another match with an injured hip would be too much of a risk for Halep in prolonging the injury and possibly risking her secured spot in Singapore WTA finals.
With the withdrawal of Williams as a No.1 seed and Halep No.2 seed, the draw seems to be wide open in the semifinals. Samantha Stosur, the 2011 U.S. Open winner who was due to play Williams will now go straight into the semifinals as well as the ninth-seeded Ivanovic, who is fighting for a spot in the WTA finals in Singapore.
Sharapova Overcomes Kuznetsova
There are days when any shot you hit, from any angle, everything seems to be going your way. That most certainly was the case for Maria Sharapova, who played an incredible game against Svetlana Kuznetsova. Just earlier last week, the two ladies were facing off in Wuhan, where it took Sharapova three sets to win the match 3-6, 6-2, 6-2.
It looked like she was carrying the momentum from those last two sets into this encounter, as she stormed out to a 6-0 lead. Kuznetsova found her game in the second set and moved ahead 4-3, and even had a chance to take her lead to 5-3 but Sharapova stayed focused, found her way back in, and finished off strong with 6-0, 6-4.
Sharapova was pleased with her match. “I think I played very aggressively. I controlled most of the points. I didn’t allow her to get many balls back. It became a little bit trickier in the second set. I thought she played really great defense,” Sharapova said.
“But even if I was down a break, I felt like she was doing most of the running, and I was happy to win the match in two sets,” Sharapova explained.
Women’s Semifinals Lineup
Sharapova will be having a rematch against a player to whom she has lost twice this year, No. 9 seed Ana Ivanovic who received a quarterfinal walkover from Halep.
In the second semifinal, Stosur will face the Petra Kvitova who just made it through by winning against the world No.1 doubles player, Italian Roberta Vinci 7-6 (2) 6-4. She served seven aces in the match.
Doubles Matches
WTA Doubles results: Hlavackova, Peng – Rodionova, Kudryavtseva 6-1, 6-4
ATP Doubles results: Pospisil, Benneteau – Lopez, Mirnyi 6-3, 7- 6 (5).
Vlatka Jovanovic is an ex-professional WTA ranked tennis player and an independent broadcaster and journalist.
