HOBART – French top seed Marion Bartoli was upset by Czech starlet Klara Zakopalova in the quarter-finals of the Hobart International on Thursday. The Czech fifth seed followed on from winning her second round match earlier in the day in the rain-hit tournament to bounce out the world number 17, 6-4, 6-2 in 1hr 18min.
Zakopalova will play Australian sixth seed Jarmila Groth in Friday’s semi-finals. Bartoli praised the determination of her opponent in a tough quarter-final. “She played unbelievable, to be honest. I mean, I’m used to playing against top 10 players and they barely can play like that,” Bartoli said.
Groth enjoyed a straight sets victory against fourth seed Roberta Vinci of Italy. In the other quarter-finals, China’s unseeded Peng Shuai defeated Italian seventh seed Sara Errani, 6-1, 6-3, and American Bethanie Mattek-Sands ousted German eighth seed Angelique Kerber 6-4, 6-4. Peng will play Mattek-Sands in Friday’s other semi-final.
FERRER DOWNS KOHLSCHREIBER: Top seed David Ferrer held off a dogged fightback from Philipp Kohlschreiber to reach the semi-finals of the Auckland ATP tour event Thursday. The Spaniard admitted he was affected by nerves on his way to a 6-3, 6-7 (4/7), 6-3 win over eighth-seeded Kohlschreiber, blowing two match points before defeating the German after two hours 45 minutes. Ferrer, the champion here in 2007, appeared headed for an easy victory after cruising through the first set 6-3 but Kohlschreiber blew away the cobwebs to take the second in a tie-break. The German world number 34 could not maintain his momentum, fending off two match points before netting his forehand on the third to hand Ferrer victory. Ferrer will meet David Nalbandian in the semi-finals after the sixth seed ousted defending champion John Isner 6-4, 7-6 (7/3).
Earlier, Spanish second seed Nicolas Almagro ground out a 7-6 (7/3), 6-7 (1/7), 6-2 win over Adrian Mannarino of France. Seventh seed Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil will play Colombian Santiago Giraldo in the fourth quarter-final later Thursday.
