Tennis: Pe'er beats Safina to make semis

Pe'er beats rival who ousted her from last year's Gold Coast tournament 4-6, 6-1, 7-6.

By JERUSALEM POST SPORTS STAFF, JPOST.COM STAFF
Shahar Peer 224.88 ap (photo credit: AP [file])
Shahar Peer 224.88 ap
(photo credit: AP [file])
Shahar Pe'er on Thursday beat Dinara Safina (15) 4-6, 6-1, 7-6 in the quarterfinals of the $175,000 tournament in Gold Coast, Austalia to make the semis. Pe'er, who is ranked 17 in the world, went into the game having lost her previous three matches against the Russian. The last time was a year ago, in the same tournament, when Safina ousted Pe'er from in the semi-finals and eventually went on to win the title. In the previous round, the 20-year-old Israeli needed only 22 minutes to advance to the quarterfinals after her opponent, Julia Schruff, retired through injury after losing the first set 6-0. Safina, who went on to claim the title in 2007, defeated Italian Flavia Pennetta (39) 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 on Wednesday. Pe'er also progressed to the quarterfinals of the doubles tournament on Wednesday, defeating Alla Kudryavtseva and Tatiana Perebiynis 6-2, 6-2 with new partner Victoria Azarenka. The Israeli/Belarusian duo will next play the No. 2 seeds Zi Yan and Jie Zheng. Also Wednesday, Andy Ram and Yoni Erlich advanced to the quarterfinals in Adelaide, beating alternate pairing Evgeny Korolev and Sam Querrey 6-2, 6-4 in 58 minutes. Ram and Erlich, who won the title in Adelaide two years ago, will play South African Chris Haggard and German Florian Mayer in the last eight. Meanwhile, defending champion Xavier Malisse and fourth-seeded Mikhail Youzhny posted contrasting wins Wednesday to set up a quarterfinal encounter in the Chennai Open. Belgian Malisse clinched a 7-6 (3), 6-2 in victory in the second round against sixth-seeded Jurgen Melzer of Austria, while Russian player Youzhny survived a scare from Frenchman Edouard Roger-Vasselin by prevailing 7-5, 1-6, 6-2. Also Wednesday, Jelena Jankovic recovered from a right leg injury that forced her to retire from her singles match to combine with Novak Djokovic in mixed doubles and give Serbia victory over France in the Hopman Cup. Jankovic was trailing 1-0 in the opening set of her singles match against France's Tatiana Golovin when she pulled her right hamstring. That forced her to retire and give France a 1-0 lead in the match. AP contributed to this report.