Williams into last four on Roman return

Andrew Dampf
Friday 07 May 2010 00:00 BST
Comments

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Serena Williams easily dispatched Maria Kirilenko 6-1, 6-4 as she continued to gather momentum on her return from injury by reaching the last four of the Italian Open.

After cruising through the first set and surging to a 4-0 lead in the second, Williams lost three straight games before regaining control on her service games, hitting aces at 123 mph and firing baseline winners at will. She has been out with a left knee injury since winning the Australian Open in January. "I can't believe I'm still in the tournament," she said. "It's weird." Williams won this clay-court warm-up for the French Open in 2002 en route to her only title at Roland Garros.

In the other half of the draw, former No 1 Ana Ivanovic beat Nadia Petrova 6-2, 7-5 to reach her first semifinal since losing to Justine Henin in Brisbane, Australia, in January. With her ranking down to No. 58, Ivanovic recently hired Steffi Graf's old coach, Heinz Gunthardt to improve her game. "We've worked a lot the last few weeks and I feel great out there," she said. Ivanovic's semi-final opponent will be 26th-ranked Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain, who beat Lucie Safarova 7-6, 6-4.

Organisers say the Madrid Open will be first the tennis tournament to be broadcast for the general public in 3D outside tournament grounds. The men's and women's finals will be shown live in 3D in three cinemas in Madrid, Barcelona and Malaga. The tournament starts today. Tournament organiser Ion Tiriac said the Madrid Open has "chosen to take tennis to another dimension, the third dimension that is seeping into society."

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in