The semi finals were completed on Thursday with contrasting results for the seeds.
(Rank/Seed)
107/Q Pironkova continues her dreamlike run into her first WTA final with a 64 63 upset of (7/2) Kvitova, whom she had never beaten. Kvitova started strongly, recovering from 2-4 to 4-4 but then grew increasingly inconsistent and flat as the match wore on, losing 6 of the next 7 games to trail 1-4 in the second. Pironkova, in contrast used her strong first serve to dominate her opponent and remained steady during the rallies, hitting 9 winners to 9 unforced errors, forcing her opponent into mistakes. Kvitova was her own worst enemy once again as she hit 27 winners to 31 unforced errors, also losing her what had hitherto looked unbreakable serve 6 times! This marks a second time that Kvitova has failed to reach the Sydney final. Meanwhile, Pironkova has achieved a few firsts; first WTA final, first time in her career to beat two top 10 players in the same event, first Bulgarian since Magdalena Maleeva in 2004 to reach any WTA final (let alone one this size) and the first qualifier in the event's history to reach the final! Can she become the first Bulgarian to win here? We'll see!
9/5 Kerber used all her experience to beat 18 year old American, Keys 64 62 and reach her first Sydney final. Initially, Kerber took some time to get to grips with Keys big serve and groundstrokes but after exchanging breaks through 4-4 in the first, Kerber broke clear, converting all 5 break points she held during the match.
The head to head is tied at 1-1 between Kerber and Pironkova but Kerber's win came at an ITF event in the Bahamas back in 2011. On the other hand, Pironkova's was at the big tour level event back in Doha 2012, 64 61. Therefore, Tsvetana knows she can beat Angelique but will the finals pressure take its toll? Pironkova should see this as a golden opportunity as she has nothing to lose, but Kerber has much more experience having won 3 of her previous 8 finals. An upset wouldn't surprise me, but I'm going to stick with Kerber winning, maybe in three sets.
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