TENNIS in DEPTH.

Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez became the first Spanish woman since 2006 to win a hardcourt event as she triumphed at the Hansol Korea Open today. The 29-year-old left-hander from Barcelona landed her second title of 2011 – the first came on clay at Bad Gastein in July – by beating Russian Galina Voskoboeva 7-6 (7/0) 7-6 (7/2). Unseeded 26-year-old Voskoboeva coped well with her first career WTA tour final, aside from in the tie-breaks where she was overwhelmed by sixth seed Martinez Sanchez. The last Spanish player to land a WTA title on hardcourt had been Anabel Medina Garrigues in Canberra, in 2006. Champion Martinez Sanchez pointed to composure at key moments in the match as key to her success. She said, according to tour website wtatennis.com: “I felt very calm in the tie-breaks. That was the key for me. ”I felt I played well the whole match. I like coming to net and I think it also makes my opponents uncomfortable, so it works well. But Galina played well – this was my toughest match of the week. I had to fight until the end.”

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Goerges, the highest-ranked player left in the event entering the quarter-finals, was beaten 7-6 (8/6) 6-1. Martinez Sanchez, seeded six, also beat the German in their only previous meeting, in New Haven in 2008. The match featured nine breaks of serve with the opening set breaker proving crucial. After it went the way of the Spaniard, Goerges’ challenge wilted and Martinez Sanchez wrapped up the win in one hour and 50 minutes.

Fifth seed Polona Hercog defeated fourth seed Dominika Cibulkova for the loss of just four games and will now play Galina Voskoboeva – 6-2 6-3 winner against Vera Dushevina. The semi-final line-up was completed when Klara Zakopalova beat Vania King 6-2 4-6 6-1. She will play Martinez Sanchez in the last four.

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The 15th seed secured the first set but lost her grip on the match in the second as her Spainish opponent responded to force a decider. And the Serb lost her serve at a crucial time as Martinez Sanchez secured her second-round place. Jankovic’s first-round exit was her first in a Grand Slam since the French Open in 2005.

Eighth seed Petra Kvitova, 11th seed Andrea Petkovic and 14th seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova also progressed. Czech Kvitova was in excellent form after a swift 6-2 6-2 win over American Alexa Glatch, while German Petkovic beat France’s Stephanie Foretz Gacon 6-3 6-4.

Russian Pavlyuchenkova also enjoyed a straight-sets 6-4 7-6 win over Lesia Tsurenko from Ukraine.

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Maria Jose  Martinez-Sanchez proved that you don’t have to pound the ball with every ounce of strength you may have to win a title in the WTA tour. She demonstrated that there is another way to win, and after a week of frustrating her opponents in Rome, she was rewarded with the title. Jelena Jankovic was her victim in the long 2 set final, and it was probably the most frustrating 21/2 hours of tennis that she has played in a long time.

“It was really an unbelievable tournament for me,” Martinez Sanchez said. “What can I say? It’s incredible.”

Jankovic was aiming for her third title at the Foro Italico, but more than once ended up sprawled on the clay after chasing down drop shots.

“She played so well,” Jankovic said. “She really killed me with all those drop shots, and I killed myself falling all over the place.”

The final score was 7-6, 7-5, but even if she had lost, MJMS would have left an indelible impression on every tennis fan who witnessed her performance. Is it beyond hope to wonder if some of the young players who watched today might emulate Maria by adding a drop shot to their repotoire, or by learning how to change the pace, or by serving and volleying?

It has been a long time since a player of this style has reached a final and gone on to win. At times I was reminded of Navritalova, Novotna, and even John McEnroe as I watched this left hander execute her delicate drop shots.

If she was this good on clay, then the players best be aware of what she might do on grass!

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Only one of the two Serbian semi finalists made it through to Saturday’s final, and that one was Jelena Jankovic. The other one, Ana Ivanovic could not find the answer to the unique game of Martinez Sanchez who defeated Ana 6-4, 6-2. She is not alone among the top women players who have been bewildered by their encounter with this Spanish throw-back to the age of serve and volley, of soft touch and delicate drop shots. It will be interesting to see how Jankovic deals with the Sanchez game. One thing in Jelena’s favour is her quick feet amd her movement around the court. She will need them tomorrow.

For Ana Ivanovic she must be ecstatic with her week in Rome, and for Jelena Jankovic, who defeated both the Williams sisters in back to back matches, she must now be considered as one of the favourites heading into Roland Garros.

“She played really, really well,” said Ana. “I wasn’t used to her type of play and things were happening a little too quickly. She hit so many lines and has a great drop shot.

“Putting this match to the side, I take a lot of positives from this week. I achieved quite a lot and I’m looking forward to the rest of the clay court season. I hope to keep improving.”

She now heads to Spain for the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open, where she will play compatriot, former world No.1 and Rome finalist Jelena Jankovic in the second round, having received a bye in round one.

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It was more of the same in Rome as Ana Ivanovic dispatched Nadia Petrova in straight sets 6-2, 7-5. It was her third win in a row and launched her into the semi final where she will meet Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. This will be a tougher test for Ivanovic as Sanchez is at her best on clay and is also a serve and volleyer.

Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain beat Czech opponent Lucie Safarova 7-6 (6), 6-4. 

Martinez Sanchez maintained her focus during a brief downpour that interrupted play for 15 minutes just after the start of the first-set tiebreaker. The Spaniard also controlled the play with her big first serve, leading 7-0 in aces

Serena Williams dispatched Maria Kirilenko 6-1, 6-4 on Thursday then waited to see if she will meet sister Venus in the Italian Open semifinals.

“I have a really tough opponent next match whether it’s Venus or Jelena,” Serena said. “Obviously, ‘Go V!”’

After cruising through the first set and jumping out to a 4-0 lead in the second, Serena lost three straight games before regaining control on her service games, blasting aces at 198 kph (123 mph) and firing baseline winners at will.

Serena had a 8-1 edge in aces and 19-7 in winners.

Serena has been out with a left knee injury since winning the Australian Open in January and this is her first tournament back.

“I can’t believe I’m still in the tournament,” she said. “It’s weird.”

Serena won this clay-court warmup for the French Open in 2002 en route to her only title at Roland Garros.

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Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez suffered a surprise second-round defeat by wildcard entry Arantxa Parra Santonja on a day of upsets at the Barcelona Ladies Open.

Martinez Sanchez, the world 27 and top-ranked Spaniard, lost to her compatriot 5-7 6-3 7-5 to crash out in front of her home fans.

The 27-year-old was not the only notable player to fall as fourth seed Maria Kirilenko and fifth seed Sorana Cirstea followed her out of the draw.

Kirilenko, a finalist here last year, was beaten in three sets by Kazakhstan’s Yaroslava Shvedova 4-6 6-2 6-2 in two hours and nine minutes while Cirstea was cast aside 6-1 6-4 by Czech Iveta Benesova.

There were no such problems for top seed Francesca Schiavone with the Italian cruising to a 6-4 6-3 success against Tathiana Garbin.

Schiavone was joined in the third round by her countrywoman Roberta Vinci, the defending champion, who beat another Spanish wildcard Laura Pous Tio 4-6 6-0 6-3.

A third Italian, Sara Errani, was narrowly beaten 2-6 6-3 7-6 (7/5) by Alexandra Dulgheru.

Switzerland’s Timea Bacsinszky fought back to beat Regina Kulikova 2-6 6-2 6-3 while local hopeful Carla Suarez Navarro was too good for Kristina Barrois 6-3 7-5 in the day’s final match.

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Victoria Azarenka has suffered from left thigh injury while playing against Spanish Maria Jose Martinez on the centre court of Andalucia Tennis Experience.

When she was up 4-0, she suffered from a sudden pain, which made her suspend the match to receive a treatment from the tournament physiotherapist. After the massage given to the back part of her leg, the physiotherapist wrap it with the bandage and the player came back to the court to continue the match to retire only few minutes later. Under this circumstance Maria José Martinez has gone through to the semifinals, where tomorrow she will face fellow Carla Suarez, who earlier on today defeated Tatjana Malek.

The Italian Flavia Pennetta has become the second semifinalist of the tournament after clinching the victory over Romanian Simona Halep 6-4 7-6 (4) in only 1hour and 45 minutes.Number 16 in the WTA ranking did not give any chance to her opponent, ranked 166, who although trying her best during all match, was not able to prevent herself from the defeat. Pennetta will now face fellow Italian Sara Errani  who defeated Beatriz Garcia 6-7,6-4,6-3.

The 18 year old Romanian, the youngest player left in draw, started the match very concentrated and was even up 2-4 after breaking her opponent service. Despite this advantage, Pennetta has asserted her status as a favorite and made her rival play by her rules in the rest of the first set as well as in the second one, which ended with a tight 7-6 eventually won by the Italian.

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