Jovanovski to take on Knapp in finals of Tashkent Open 2014

12 September 2014

Top seeded Bojana Jovanovski of Serbia  will take on third seeded Karen Knapp of Italy  in the  finals of the  16th edition of the Tashkent Open WTA tennis Championships being played at the Olympic School  Tennis complex here.

In the semifinals played today world ranked 36 and top seed Jovanovski ended the fairy tale run of local wildcard  Nigina Abduraimova 6-4,7-5 in just 1 hours 28 minutes , while third seeded third seed and world ranked 71 Karin Knapp of Italy quelled the challenge of the  giant killing qualifier Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine 6-3,6-3 in 1 hour 40 minutes.

In a match which witnessed as many as  17 double faults  from both players , Jovanovski broke the local Uzbek in the 7th game after bad service game from Nigina and then held on to register a 6-4 win. In the second set which  saw as many as 7 breaks on both sides . The top seeded  seemed more settled as compared to her previous matches pushing Nigina to commit mistakes. Jovanovski broke Nigina  in the 11th game  and managed to hold on to the 12th game and wrap the match and place in the finals for the second year in a row.

" I started well today and happy to finish  the match in two sets instead of three I have been playing the whole week" said Bojana. It was good to play in front of so many people and would like to compliment Nigina for a wonderful week and game. She has improved a lot and am sure she will be a very good player" , she added.

In the second semifinals  Italian Knapp played to a plan and stopped the winning run of qualifier Lesia Tsurenko of Ukraine 6-3,6-3 . Tsurenko who looked tired on the court could not handle Knapp's pace making a series of unforced errors. Knapp broke Tsurenko in the 8th game of the first set and helld on to a tough 9th game to win the set 6-3.

In the second set Knapp raced to a 4-1 lead ,but Tsurenko shoed hopes of a comeback taking 3 games in a row and narrowing the lead,  Knapp  held on to a crucial 8th game winning it after 9 dueces  and ging upp 5-3, she then broke the jaded Tsurenko in the 9th game and made it to her first ever final on a Tour event .  

" The match was very tough and not as the scores suggest ,I made a plan to hit the ball a bit earlier , so as not to give Lesia time to make her strokes and made her commit mistake ,  Its geat to be in the finals and will do my best in the finals" said Knapp after her win.

Margarita Gasparyan  and   Alexandra Panova  of Russia will clash with Aleksandra Krunic of Serbia and Katerina Siniakova  of the Czech Republic in the finals of the doubles . In the semifinals Gasparyan and Panova  scored a 7-6(4),6-2 win over  Camelia Begu of Romania and Karin Knapp of Italy , while Krunic and Siniakova edged out Uzbek Akgul Amanmuradova  and Kateryna Bondarenko of Ukraine   4-6,6-4,10-8

 Following are the results :Semifinals finals Singles

Bojana Jovanovski ( Srb)(1) bt  [WC] Nigina Abduraimova (UZB)  6-4,7-5

Karin Knapp (ITA) (3) bt      (Q) Lesia Tsurenko (Ukr)     6-3,6-3

DOUBLES :  Semi finals

Margarita Gasparyan / Alexandra Panova (Rus)  bt  Irina -Camelia Begu(Rou) /Karin Knapp(ITA)  7-6(4),6-2

Anna Karolina
Schmiedlova