Qualifier Sona upsets top seed Irina in last eight

Qualifier Sona Novakova played the match of a lifetime to upset top seed Irina Matiychyk 7-6 (3), 6-4 and enter the girls singles semifinals at the 3rd Baia ITF Juniors Tennis Championships being played at the Jumeirah Beach Club (JBC).

In a quarterfinal marred with alleged frequent erroneous line calls from the chair umpire, the top seed felt cheated of her rightful place in the last four stage of this competition.

“I was robbed of the match. If they did not want me to win, they should have told me so before I started playing,” Matiychyk fumed after the match.

“If it was not for the chair umpire, I would have won.”

Things started off well for the top seed from Ukraine as she raced to a comfortable 5-1 lead. But that is when things went awry and the line calls got edgy.

“There were so many times that the chair umpire just called a right ball wrong,” she added.

And with her confidence, the game too dipped as Novakova kept her cool and broke her opponent twice to equal scores at 5-5. She then broke Matiychyk a third time, only to see the top seed returning the favour in the very next game to force the tie-breaker.

Novakova got a crucial break midway through the second set to wrap up the match 6-4. “I agree with Irina. The chair umpire was horrible. But I was fortunate that some of the calls went in my favour,” she accepted.

Novakova, who entered the main draw as a qualifier, next runs into Julia Bone of Great Britain. “I am waiting for this match as I lost to her last week in Qatar. I’m going to be looking out for revenge,” Novakova said.

“She’s going to be tough to play,” admitted the fourth seeded Bone after disposing off Lucia Batta 6-1, 6-3.

“I am happy with what I have achieved here and in Qatar (where she reached the singles semifinals). It’s only the second tournament of my career,” Batta smiled.

Meanwhile, the boy’s singles went as per form and expectations with second seeded Stanislav Buykov easing past Igor Rud 7-5, 6-2, while Christophe Llewellyn defeated Cristian Hodel of Romania 6-4, 6-4.

“It was tough in the first set. But the second set was easier as my serve got better and more consistent,” Buykov stated.

“I don’t want to stay satisfied with just the singles. I hope to win the doubles crown as well,” the second seeded Russian added.

In the upper half of the draw, No.5 Edward Corrie set a meeting against sixth seed Andrei Plotniy.

Corrie disposed off Alexander Kotsyuk 6-4, 6-4, while Plotniy showed fine form to get rid of Ivan Galic 6-2, 6-4.

“I am feeling much better this week and that has helped my confidence to a great extent,” Corrie stated.

“I am not worried about my semifinal opponent (Plotniy) as I want to concentrate on one game at a time,” the British player added.