Hercog disappears in Charleston semifinal against Safarova

Who would have thought that the the losers of both the semifinals of a Premier-level tournament in Charleston would together win a total of only two games! In the first semifinal second-seeded Samantha Stosur lost to Serena Williams 6-1 6-1 in less than an hour, while in the next semi Lucie Safarova double bageled Polona Hercog in an hour and four minutes.
Hercog took out Kimiko Date-Krumm in the first round, Varvara Lepchenko in the second, seed No.3 Marion Bartoli in the third, seed No.14 Nadia Petrova in the quarterfinals, but 31 unforced error in the final four against Safarova dragged the Slovenian to defeat. According to the Eurosport commentator, this is the fourth time a played lost 6-0 6-0 this year.
Serena Williams and Lucie Safarova have played each other four times, and the American won all those encounters. (photo: © Neal Trousdale)

In all the four previous meetings of Venus Williams and Samantha Stosur, Williams was the winner in straight sets, while Stosur's maximum was to win four games in a set, which happened only on one occasion. Today in the quarterfinals of the Family Circle Cup, Stosur quickly equaled those four games in a set, and then straightforwardly won the opening set, before working her way to a 6-3 4-6 6-3 victory in two hours and 41 mintutes. Stosur's triumph means that there will be no all-Williams showdown in the semis.




