In the quarterfinals of the Acura Classic in San Diego third seed Anna Chakvetadze earned the biggest win of her career with a 6-7 (5-7) 7-6 (7-3) 6-2 victory over the reigning Wimbledon champion Venus Williams.
Williams looked sure to put Chakvetadze away, but she double-faulted on match point and was not the same afterwards.
After notching her 12th straight victory on U.S soil, the 20-year-old Chakvetadze will face defending champion and top seed Maria Sharapova who demolished India’s Sania Mirza 6-2 6-1 to advance to the last four.
Chakvetadze has never beaten the fellow Russian, but I think that this time she can do it. This year, Chakvetadze was defeated by Sharapova two times, both in Grand Slam quarterfinals. Still, Sharapova has no titles in 2007, mostly because of her persistent shoulder injury, while Chakvetadze is currently battling for her fifth title of the season (after trophies from Hobart, ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Cincinnati, and Stanford).
The other semifinal pair is Patty Schnyder of Switzerland vs. Elena Dementieva of Russia. No. 11 seed Schnyder advanced to the semis with an impressive 6-4 6-4 victory over fourth seed Nadia Petrova, while ninth seed Dementieva overcame compatriot Maria Kirilenko 6-2 6-4.
