Weintraub battles to semis, Sela cruises in Ra’anana
plays Edan Leshem (409) in the semis. In an intriguing showdown between two of the rising stars of local tennis, Leshem came back from a set down to defeat Yshai Oliel (927) 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
With Julia Glushko preparing for the new season in New Zealand, Deniz Khazaniuk (247) is the No. 1 seed in the women’s draw and she had little trouble progressing to the semifinals on Wednesday. Khazaniuk beat Shelly Brezniak 6-2, 6-1 and will next play Valeria Nikolaev (1,088), who defeated Talia Zanberg 6-1, 4-6, 6-2.
Maya Tahan (1,222) surprised No. 2 seed Keren Shlomo (893) 6-2, 6-3 on Wednesday and faces Ofri Lankri (1,046) next. Lankri beat Shir Azran (1,159) 6-4, 6-1.
The women’s and the men’s finals will be played on Friday.
Kvitova facing six months out after knife attack
Two-time Wimbledon tennis champion Petra Kvitova faces around six months out of the sport while her playing hand, wounded in a knife attack, recovers its strength, the surgeon who operated on her said on Wednesday.
Kvitova was injured on Tuesday when she fought off an intruder in her apartment in the Czech Republic.
“When we talk about [competitive] pressure on the hand, we are talking about a period of around six months [before that is possible],” Radek Kebrle said in a televised news conference.
“She is a young athlete, healthy... but it still is a relatively massive injury,” he said, adding that all the fingers on Kvitova’s left hand were hurt as she grabbed the attacker’s knife.
Her spokesman, Karel Tejkal, earlier described Tuesday’s near four-hour operation as a success and said Kvitova’s mood was optimistic.
But he suggested her future in the sport was uncertain.
“There will be several weeks of waiting with a splint and then, gradually, slowly she will be able to put the hand to work,” Tejkal told Czech public television. Reuters contributed to this report