Tennis: Korean 'wall' too strong for Russian

By TERRY MADDAFORD

It is unkind to suggest that playing tennis against Korean No 1 Yoon Jeong Cho is like hitting a ball against a wall.

But given her ability to return the ball and return it again and again there is a certain synergy between the ball and wall.

For 2h 20min, Cho, playing Russian Vera Zvonareva in the first of today's ASB Classic quarter-finals, simply kept the ball in play.

In the end Zvonareva, ranked 38 places higher, had no answer to the relentless Korean, going down 6-7 6-1 3-6.

For 23-year-old Cho it was ground-breaking stuff.

It is the first time a player from South Korea has reached the semifinal of a tier four WTA tournament.

The last player to win a place in the main draw when handed the gold/silver exempt spot, Cho is playing at the ASB Tennis Centre for the first time. She now faces top seed Anna Pistolesi in the first of today's semifinals.

That too promises to be a baseline duel.

Pistolesi booked her place with a convincing 6-3 6-1 win over American Jill Craybas in the second of the quarter-finals.

Cho, unflustered and apparently using her serve simply as a means of getting things started rather than as an attacking weapon, showed some real fight against a player touted by many as an upset chance.

From the time Cho broke Zvonareva in a game which stretched to 14 points, it was always going to be a drawn out affair.

Some commentators were unkind enough to suggest the record for a single point in a WTA match - 29 minutes, with the ball crossing the net 643 times - could come under threat.

They did not get close to that but there were some long baseline rallies.

Cho, who went 3-0 ahead before dropping behind 3-4, winning only one point in two service games, eventually took the 1h 6min first set 7-3 in the tiebreaker.

The second set was somewhat different.

Cho held serve for 1-0. That was it as 18-year-old Zvonareva charged to win the next six games in just 20 minutes.

Holding serve was a rarity in the decider.

Cho broke the world No 45 in the first game but then handed that advantage straight back. The next two games were also won against serve before Zvonareva held for 3-2.

That was the end of the line for Zvonareva and any hopes she might have entertained of a first tournament victory, as Cho took the next four games and the set 6-3.

Shrugging off a hint of cramp in temperatures which reached 30C, Cho said she relished the heat.

"I like it hot as it suits my game," said Cho.

"I like to move my opponent from side to side. Wear them down.

"I like to play the angles - hit the lines using my forehand as my best shot."

With ice packed on her shoulder, Cho admitted she was tired but just as quickly added that she was looking forward to the semifinal and a return match with Pistolesi whom she lost to 6-0 6-3 in Shanghai in September.

Six weeks later Cho reached the final of a tier five tournament in Pattaya, Thailand, losing to world No 59 Indonesian Angelique Widjaja.

Pistolesi needed 47 minutes to take the first set from Craybas but picked up the tempo in the second, racing to 4-0 before closing it out in 22 minutes.

"I was not happy with my game today," said Pistolesi.

"I played better the day before. There is still a long way to go. I'm not thinking about the title yet."