Women's Day 7: Safina Backs Out of Tournament; Other Top Russian Also Exits

Women's Fourth Round:

Maria Kirilenko (RUS) def. Dinara Safina (RUS)[2] 5-4 (Ret. - Back) -- There was a lot of buzz in December that Dinara Safina was going to miss the whole Australian swing because of the back injury that kept her out of Doha.  The online group therapy session for Safina fans known as Forty Deuce seemed to be against the decision the whole way, and after she hobbled off the court today it sure looked like they were on to something.  I couldn't notice any ill-effects of the injury during any points, but when she suddenly threw in the towel down set point in the first, it was pretty clear that she was in trouble.  Without so much as a foreshadowing trainer visit, Safina limped off the court and into her presser, where she moaned that she was in such bad shape that she couldn't lie down.  Yowch.  On the other side of things, congrats to Maria Kirilenko for capitalizing on what initially looked like a one-off win over Sharapova in the first round.  This is Kirilenko's first grand slam quarterfinal, and against Zheng she has a great shot to go a step further.

Nadia Petrova (RUS)[19] def. Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS)[3] 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 -- Nadia Petrova didn't play nearly as well as she did against Kim Clijsters, but she didn't need to.  Svetlana Kuznetsova is capable of tennis more braindead than perhaps any other multiple slam winner, and boy was that capability ever on display today.  Petrova faces Henin in the next round, in a defacto semifinal that is a rematch of two other grand slam semifinals the two have waged.  Henin, as you'd imagine, won both.

Justine Henin (BEL) def. Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) 7-6(3), 1-6, 6-3 -- After seeing Wickmayer play unbelievably terrible tennis in the first round against Alexandra Dulgheru, I had low expectations for her in this match.  But wow, was she ever impressive.  She squandered set points in the first, but then turned right around and cruised in the second, missing an opportunity to collapse that many players seize in that situation.  Wickmayer hit the ball incredibly well, going for a lot while not making any unforced errors to speak of.  That US Open draw she had may have been one of the cupcakiest of all time, but she's no fluke.  As for the player who actually won the match, it was another in what have been a series of good tests for Henin.  She's been sharpened, which she needs to be against a player like Petrova considering how many big scalps the Russian has collected lately.

Zheng Jie (CHN) def. Alona Bondarenko (UKR)[31] 7-6(5), 6-4 --  Not a pretty match.  Neither player played as well as she had in pulling off big third round upsets, and in the end it came down to Zheng making fewer errors than the wildly erratic Bondarenko, who hit 38 errors against only 9 winners.  Zheng makes her second career grand slam quarterfinal, also making the semifinals of Wimbledon in 2008.  She could be joined by a compatriot in the round of eight if Li Na can pull off the upset against Wozniacki.