Deepak Jain Thu, Jan 07 10 02:49 PM
Israel's Shahar Peer was the subject of protests for the third successive day at the WTA Tour's Auckland Classic on Thursday, though the 22-year-old still advanced to the semi-finals of the event.
Five people, amongst a group of about 20 protesting at Israel's policies towards Palestinians and urging Peer to withdraw from the tournament, were arrested outside the central Auckland venue, local media reported.
One was arrested on Wednesday during a protest, which caused a delay to Peer's second round victory over Slovakia's Magdalena Rybarikova on one of the outside courts.
Peer, however, continued to be seemingly totally unfazed by the outside distractions and moved into the semi-finals with a 6-0 3-6 6-1 victory over Russia's Maria Kirilenko on centre court.
"You know I'm trying to focus on myself and not about them coming or not coming and just trying to focus on my tennis," Peer told reporters. "If I win the tournament, it just shows that I don't need to think about it and politics should not be at play."
Peer will meet third seed Yanina Wickmayer in the semi-finals on Friday after the Belgian overpowered the tournament's surprise package Kimiko Date Krumm 6-2 6-2.
The Japanese former world number four, who returned to the courts in May 2008 after more than a decade away from the game, had upset fifth seed Virgine Razzano of France in the second round on Wednesday.
The Razzano victory was the first time the 39-year-old had beaten a top-20 player since launching her comeback, though she also dispatched former world number five Anna Chakvetadze in the first round.
Wickmayer, who faced off-court controversy after she fell foul of the Belgian doping body's "whereabouts rule" and was initially banned for a year before a court overturned it, used a powerful serve and groundstrokes to blast to victory. Top seeded Italian Flavia Pennetta also advanced to the semi-finals after she produced a superbly accurate game, keeping Slovakia's Dominika Cibulkova pinned deep behind the baseline to complete an easy 6-1 6-2 victory.
"I didn't make many mistakes at all and I was very aggressive," Pennetta said.
"She's always tough to play because she makes you play so many balls and it's not easy to make a winner.
"Today, everything was perfect."
Pennetta will need to put her friendship with compatriot Francesca Schiavone to one side in the semi-finals after the fourth seeded Schiavone thrashed the unseeded Frenchwoman Alize Cornet 6-2 6-3 in the late match.
The Italian duo will be busy on Friday as they team up for their doubles semi-final against top seeds Cara Black and Liezel Huber after their singles clash.
Source: Web Search
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