At least Serena Williams and Svetlana Kuznetsova both should be pretty well-rested for their Australian Open quarterfinal match on Tuesday night in the U.S. Both got into the quarters despite not playing full matches the last time out.
Kuznetsova walked into the quarters when 22nd seed Jie Zheng was forced to withdraw with a sprained wrist with the Russian leading 4-1. Williams’ opponent, Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, woke up feeling nauseous but defied doctors’ orders and attempted to play her match. In fact, she won the first set 6-3 before Serena took a 4-2 lead in the second as Azarenka nearly fainted and had to call it a day.
Thus Serena, the No. 2 seed, and Kuznetsova, the No. 8, face off with a trip to the Aussie Open’s final four at stake. And Kuznetsova is confident she can upset the three-time champion of this event.
Kuznetsova, the 2004 U.S. Open champion, beat Williams 6-3, 6-3 in Germany in 2007, while Williams won their first two and last two encounters, the most recent being a three-setter in Miami in 2008. Kuznetsova is a +200 underdog on WagerWeb.com.
“I haven’t played her that many times but she serves big and lots of things depend on her serve,” Kuznetsova said. “I’m fine with it. It’s not like I cannot play her or something. I feel comfortable and I don’t think I make her that uncomfortable that much either.
“I know I can beat her. I beat her in Stuttgart once very comfortably,” the Russian continued. “I was playing an unbelievable match by then, but she beat me next time and this is tennis.”
Williams, who is -300 on WagerWeb.com for the quarterfinal match, is the last American female in the tournament and looking for her fourth Aussie Open (all won in odd years) and 10th Grand Slam victory.
“She gets a ton of balls back, she’s extremely strong, I think we have a similar game,” Williams said of Kuznetsova. “I think it will be a great match.”
Serena’s serve has been a struggle, with first serve percentage below 60 percent this tournament - that figure dipping to 56 against Azarenka. Williams hit the practice courts after the match to work on it.
“I just was clearly disappointed in my serve so (I) just wanted to work on that a little bit,” she said. “(I) wanted to hit a few more balls.”
Tennis betting at WagerWeb.com
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