Maria Kozyreva served first in her singles quarter-final against Lulu Sun in Rancho Santa Fe this morning, and finished the opening game with a beautiful inside-out forehand winner after the left-handed Sun had won the previous point with a lovely cross-court forehand.
They both held to love next up, Kozyreva including a beautiful forehand winner down the line in her game, before Sun hit a really good cross-court backhand volley to win the first proper rally of the match when she served again. That was followed by a fabulous cross-court backhand winner from Kozyreva, but Sun went on to hold again.
Kozyreva was forced to hit a backhand over the baseline to end a great rally when she served again, and that took them to the first deuce in the match. She got the advantage with a beautiful forehand winner down the line, but gave it straight back with a double fault.
Kozyreva regained the advantage with a lovely cross-court forehand drop volley, but gave away a third deuce when she hit a forehand over the baseline to end another good rally. Forced errors from each took them to a fourth deuce, where Kozyreva got the advantage again with a beautiful forehand volley down the line, and a cross-court backhand from Sun landed in the tramlines to give away the game after just over seven minutes.
Kozyreva hit a fabulous inside-out backhand return of serve in the next game, and Sun gave away break points when she ended a great rally with a backhand into the net. Two unforced errors from Kozyreva took them to deuce, and a third gave Sun the advantage, which she rammed home with a fabulous cross-court forehand winner.
The first break of serve came completely out of the blue, Sun starting the next game with a beautiful backhand winner down the line before errors from Kozyreva were followed by a double fault which ended a break to love. Kozyreva ended two good rallies in the next game with backhands into the net, but she took a third with a nice inside-out forehand winner before Sun hit a beautiful forehand winner down the line to end the game.
The only point Kozyreva lost in the next game was to a beautiful overhead volley from Sun, but her own fabulous forehand winner down the line completed the hold. Sun’s ace in the next game meant she was only two points away from taking the set, but she lost two good rallies with backhand unforced errors, and another gave Kozyreva a break point.
A fourth error in a row, this time a forehand into the net, gifted Kozyreva the break, and a hold to love meant the Russian was back in business. Sun held to love as well in a much better performance, and that took them to a tie-break – where Kozyreva might just as well have not bothered turning up.
Sun got an immediate mini-break with a beautiful inside-out forehand winner before Kozyreva’s two returns of serve both went into the net. That was where she put forehands on both her own points but, for variation, she gifted Sun the game with a backhand and forehand over the baseline. The set had taken 53 minutes.
Sun lost the first two points in the second set, but the next two games were held to love before we saw the shot of the match, a fantastic forehand winner down the line from Sun to give her a break point in the fourth game. Kozyreva saved that with her only ace of the match, but ended a great short rally with a forehand into the tramlines before overhitting a cross-court forehand to give away the first break of serve.
More errors from her allowed Sun to hold comfortably in the next game before she picked up her level to hold to love. The best rally of the match came in the next game, lasting 19 shots before Sun was forced to hit a backhand into the net. Kozyreva saved the first game point with a fabulous cross-court backhand winner, but couldn’t control her backhand response after having to race to the net to try to counter a drop shot from Sun.
That left Kozyreva serving to stay in the match, but a forehand which she left short of the net to end a good rally meant that Sun had two match points. Kozyreva saved the first with a forehand winner down the left side of the court, and an unreturnable serve saved the second. She gave away a third match point with a forehand into the net, but that was also where Sun’s return of the next serve ended up.
Yet another forehand into the net from Kozyreva, this one ending a great rally, gave Sun a fourth match point, and this time it was a backhand that Kozyreva dumped into the net. The match had taken an hour and 30 minutes, the final score being 7-6 (0), 6-2. In tomorrow’s semi-final Sun will play another Russian, Anastasia Tikhonova.