STANFORD, Calif.- One week ago, Aleksandra Wozniak was sweating out a three-set victory on the opening day of qualifying competition.
On Sunday afternoon, the Canadian qualifier will attempt to win her first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles title.
Playing her seventh match in eight days, Wozniak continued her improbable run with an upset of tournament top seed and No. 5-ranked Serena Williams on Saturday afternoon in the semifinals of the 2008 Bank of the West Classic in front of 2381 fans at Taube Family Tennis Stadium.
“I was trying not to think about being tired,” said Wozniak. “I was tired but I just wanted to focus on me, play aggressive and play my game. I knew I would be playing today against a big champion so I wanted to keep my cool today on the court…I just wanted to focus on my gameplan on the court and not think too much. I just wanted to play offensive tennis.”
Wozniak becomes the first qualifier to reach the singles final at the Bank of the West Classic since 1982- the first year that computer rankings were generated.
Wozniak dominated early in the match, which became official after Williams was forced to retire after injuring her left knee and trailing 3-1 in the second set. Wozniak had claimed the first set easily 6-2 and the entire match lasted only 46 minutes. Williams said she first began experiencing discomfort from the injury when she was practicing earlier in the morning.
An eight-time Grand Slam champion, Williams struggled from the start against Wozniak and first called for a trainer when she fell behind 5-2 in the opening set. That was enough to affect her game and build confidence for Wozniak, who entered the start of the tournament ranked No. 85 and with an overall record of 16-13 on the year.
Wozniak trailed 1-0 in both sets but induced Williams into 23 unforced errors and kept this year’s Wimbledon runner-up on the defensive for the entire match.
On the other side of the bracket, sixth-seeded Marion Bartoli cruised to a 6-3, 6-3 victory over tour veteran Ai Sugiyama in the night session. It was Bartoli’s first win over Sugiyama in six career meetings.
“I think I played really well; maybe even better than yesterday I thought at some points,” said Bartoli. “She gave me a hard time. She was hitting the ball really early, playing flat and moving so well. It’s always difficult to beat someone when you’ve lost five times before but I’ve been able to manage to get my serve up at the end of the match.”
Bartoli, who has won four consecutive matches for the first time this year, posted her third straight-set win of this week’s event. In addition to tonight’s victory over Sugiyama, Bartoli also looked very sharp in a 6-3, 6-4 upset of defending Bank of the West Classic champion Anna Chakvetadze in the quarterfinals.
After trailing Sugiyama 2-1 in the first set, Bartoli won four straight games en route to a 6-3 win. In the second set, Bartoli jumped out to a 3-1 lead and ended up winning the final two games.
Playing in the Bank of the West Classic for the sixth straight season, Bartoli had never advanced past the second round in five previous tries in this event. Tomorrow’s singles final is slated for 2 p.m.
Meanwhile in doubles, the world’s top-ranked duo of Cara Black and Liezel Huber outlasted Tatiana Poutchek and Anastasia Rodionova 4-6, 6-3, (10-7) to earn a spot in Sunday’s final.
Prior to this afternoon, Black and Huber had made quick work of their first two opponents by allowing only 14 games overall. On Saturday, they dropped the first set 6-4 after holding an early 3-1 lead.
But they held on for a 6-3 win in the second set and squeezed past their counterparts 10-7 in the tiebreaker despite racing out to a 7-1 lead.
Black and Huber will oppose Elena Vesnina and Vera Zvonareva in Sunday’s doubles final at 11:30 a.m. Vesnina and Zvonareva downed Alisa Kleybanova and Monica Niculescu 2-6, 6-3, (10-3) on Saturday night.
Vesnina and Zvonareva were pushed to a super-tiebreaker for the second straight night.