Tamara Zidanšek will not play in the final of the WTA Zavarovalnica Sava tennis tournament in Ljubljana. In Trg Republike, she was stopped in the semi-finals by Zeynep Sönmez, the 177th player in the world, who won 6:2 and 6:3.
After several days of complications due to an inadequate surface on the central court of Mima Jaušovec in the center of Ljubljana, the WTA supervisor gave the green light on Friday to move the semifinals to Trg republike. As it turned out already after the opening exchanges, the decision was premature, as holes quickly appeared on the field, so that the maintenance workers had to repair them right between the points.
The best Slovenian tennis player did not do well there in front of the full stands. The game did not go well, there were too many mistakes, but the 21-year-old Turkish woman knew how to take advantage of this and deservedly won after an hour and ten minutes.
Especially in the first set, Tamara Zidanšek made too many mistakes, she did not get the opening shot, so she lost four games on her serve. In the second set, Zeynep Sönmez took a 4-0 lead, losing only one point in the second, third and fourth games (of the second set). Tamara Zidanšek’s better resistance followed, and after winning three games in a row, she regained hope, but in the eighth game she failed to equalize at 4:4, but in the ninth she managed to break her opponent (she cashed in seven out of eleven break points in total) for the final triumph.
“It was not good, because I felt that many things were not in my favor. My rival already knew the court, I was on it for the first time. The conditions were completely different from the previous days in Tivoli. At the same time, I felt tired from all the games played in the last two weeks, but nevertheless I have to be satisfied with what was achieved in the last period,” said Zidanšek after the defeat, who will advance to the top 80 players in the world in the new table.
Her new coach was more critical of the organizers and the execution of the tournament Blaž Kavčič. “The field was not suitable for the game. I believe that the organizers tried and gave their best, but unfortunately it did not benefit Tamara or her game. The rebounds of the balls were too low, she could not develop her speed and shots, and at the same time she was afraid of injury because of the holes in the court. Without a doubt, Tamara is a much better player than the final score showed,Kavčič said.
Even the director of the Tennis Association of Slovenia did not hide his ill will Gregor Krusič. “We wanted to do something special, unique, but unfortunately we couldn’t do it. Due to moving from one location to another, we ran out of time to consolidate the playground. No one knows exactly what the real reason is, but the fact is that we didn’t execute the case as well as we should have. After the tournament, there will be time for analysis, but there is certainly no fear that Slovenia will remain without a WTA tournament in the future,” said Krušič.
The Romanian Miriam Bulgaru and the Spanish Marina Bassols will compete for the second ticket to Sunday’s final (this one will be at 15:00).
INTERNATIONAL WTA 125 SERIES TOURNAMENT – LJUBLJANA (107,360 euros, sand) Semi-Finals:SÖNMEZ (TURKEY) – ZIDANŠEK (SLO/4) 6:2, 6:3 BASSOLS (ŠPA/5) – BULGARU (ROM)
DOUBLES, final: Amina ANŠBA/Quinn GLEASON (RUS/USA/3) – Yuliana LIZARAZO/Freya CHRISTIE (KOL/VB/4) 6:3, 6:4
Women’s tennis returns to China
Source: Rtvslo
