TENNIS – In the first Montreal semifinal, Safarova served for the match ahead 5-1 in the third set, but somehow Li won 3-6 6-3 7-5. Petra Kvitova dominated Wozniacki after a bad start. L.De Gaspari, translated by P.Sassoon

Li d Safarova 3-6 6-3 7-5

There are a lot of ways to lose a match and Lucie Safarova chose one of the worst that I can remember. The Czech gave her place in the final of the Rogers Cup to Na Li after a match that lasted 1 hour and 55 minutes of poor tennis.

The first two sets were dominated by the serve. In both sets there was just one chance to break and in the first set Safarova broke serve in the eighth game to take a 5-3 lead. In the opening set Na Li made as much as 14 unforced errors.

The second set was the mirror image of the first. The Chinese player cut her unforced errors in half whilst the Czech made 13 and just 4 winners. Li broke serve in the fourth game allowing her to equal the score at 1 all.

The third set was an unpredictable roller coaster ride compared to the first two. Li failed to convert two break points in the third game, also because the Czech played both points very well. After the Chinese missed her chances, she stopped playing. She made numerous unforced errors letting Safarova build a 5-1 lead. From the seventh game onwards, when the Czech served for the match, Safarova suddenly couldn't reach a single shot by Na Li. The Chinese won four consecutive games to join Safarova at 5 games all. The Czech was totally lost by this stage and she lost her serve for a third consecutive time in the eleventh game. Even her opponents 2 double faults in the final game couldn't save her from this absurd defeat.

This strange match, in which there were just 2 breaks in the first 21 games and 5 in the last 9, is proof of how important psychology is in this sport, particularly in the women's game.

Na Li qualified for the final after a poor match in which the players made 77 unforced errors and 35 winners between them. In the final against Petra Kvitova, she will have to play much better.

Kvitova d Wozniacki 3-6 6-2 6-3

Also Petra Kvitova came back from a set down to book a place in the Montreal final. The Czech started badly, but then recovered and dominated Caroline Wozniacki in 1 hour and 55 minutes of play, with an hour rain delay at the end of the second set.

Kvitova struggled to unleash her usual power. She made plenty of mistakes when she tried to hit the ball with some power allowing the Dane to gain a 5-1 lead after just ten minutes. Wozniacki was mostly a spectator in this set, all she had to do was get the ball over the net into her opponents court and wait for the error. Kvitova attempted a late comeback in the set after she recovered one of the two breaks lost earlier in the set. The Czech won two games only to lose her serve for a third time and the first set 6-3.

Kvitova's reaction to dropping the first set was fierce. Wozniacki held serve in the opening game of the second set before being overwhelmed by the 2011 Wimbledon champion. In just a few minutes Kvitova gained a 5-1 advantage and, after the Dane held her serve, she won the second set 6-2. After the set was over the match had to be suspended for about an hour because of rain.

When play resumed, Kvitova continued where she left off before they were forced to stop. In the first game of the final set, she broke serve at her third attempt. Both players held serve until the seventh game when Wozniacki lost hers for a second time in the set allowing Kvitova to serve for the match ahead 5-2. The Czech seemed to have been infected by the “Safarova syndrome” when she dropped her serve to 15, but she reacted in the following game. With authority Kvitova broke again and won the match.

The Czech deserved to win this match, she took the initiative from the start (36 winners and 18 net points won), even if the first set didn't work out as planned. Wozniacki couldn't hope to trouble Kvitova by just returning the ball for the whole match. The Dane made 21 unforced errors for just 7 winners.

The Czech will play Na Li for the title in Quebec. The Chinese has won 2 out of 3 previous matches, but on the evidence of their semifinal performances, Kvitova should be the favourite.

Luca De Gaspari