Virginie Razzano reached the biggest final of her career yesterday when she produced her fourth successive upset win to earn a showdown with Venus Williams in the Dubai Open.
The World No 58 from France will also make a substantial leap, somewhere close to the top 40, after beating Kaia Kinepi, the 16th-seeded Estonian, for the loss of only three games.
I try to make a lot of pressure all the time and play aggressive," said the flat-hitting, high-intensity French woman after her stunning 6-1, 6-2 triumph.
By contrast, Kaia looked tired. She had four hard matches and never rediscovered the tenacity which enabled her to upset Jelena Jankovic, the 2008 year-end number one, in the third round.
After going a break of serve down in the fourth game, Kaia could not prevent the first set from sliding quickly away from her, often looking slow by comparison with Virginie's twinkling footwork, upbeat gestures, and dashing attacks, especially down both sidelines.
Kaia even lost eight of the first nine games before rallying briefly to break back for 2-2.
It was her last significant resistance though, for a double fault and a netted forehand cost her another break of serve, and two more double faults in the seventh game contributed to the collapse of that service game too.
It is a surprise because I have beaten players in the top ten or the top 20 but I have played my best every time.
Sometimes I don't have a result and it's difficult because I don't understand why when I have a lot of motivation for my career.
But now my schedule is better this year and I can give one hundred per cent game after game, match after match. I don't want to make the same error as last year when I played too many tournaments and was not feeling good."
In the other semi-final Venus Williams defeated her sister Serena 6-1, 2-6, 7-6 (7-3). -- AFP
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