The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)
Larsson upsets second-seeded Vinci to reach semis
NEW HAVEN >> Maybe a second chance was all Sweden’s Johanna Larsson needed.
Larsson continued to make the most of her “lucky loser” opportunity with a 7-6 (11-9), 6-1 quarterfinal upset over No. 2 seed Roberta Vinci Thursday at the Connecticut Open.
This was Larsson’s third straight win after dropping a match against Ana Konjuh in the third qualifying round. It’s also the second straight year a qualifying loser has reached the Connecticut Open semifinals. Lesia Tsurenko accomplished the feat a year ago before losing to eventual runner-up Lucie Safarova.
Larsson will meet Ukraine’s Elina Svitolina in today’s semifinal. Svitolina, seeded No. 10, defeated Russia’s Elena Vesnina, 6-3, 6-1, in the second of Thursday’s four quarterfinal matches.
“Svitolina’s going to be very difficult,” Larsson said. “I’m just going to go out there and do my thing and hopefully can keep going and I can score another win. But we will see.”
Larsson, who is ranked No. 62 in the world, was making her first quarterfinal-round appearance in a Premier event. She fought off a set point while rallying in a grueling first set tiebreaker, then took advantage of Vinci’s foot injury to roll 6-1 in a quick second set.
“Yeah, I could see like in the mid-second set something was wrong,” Larsson said. “I didn’t know what it was, if she was tired or if it was an injury or something. I could definitely see that her speed was slowing down, a little bit of her fighting spirit as well. That was for my advantage, of course. It’s never fun to see your opponent getting ill or not playing their best. But, you know, it’s tennis. Next time it can be me.”
Vinci survived five set points from Larsson in the 59-minute first set. She also jumped to a 4-1 lead in the tiebreaker. After enduring a double-fault at 6-all, Vinci grabbed an 8-7 advantage before committing an unforced error on her only set point.
“I lost an unlucky first set,” Vinci said. “I knew the first set was important for me, for my confidence, for my foot, everything.”
Vinci suffered a nagging tendon injury to her left foot while competing in the Rio Olympics.
“Yesterday was good, it was better but today it was a tough match thinking always to my pain.” Vinci said.
Vinci, who is seeded No. 7 at next week’s U.S. Open at Flushing Meadows, made her debut in the Top 10 last February at Doha. At 33, the Italy native is the oldest player to make a Top 10 debut in WTA history. The short break before the U.S. Open comes at a perfect time.
“I have two or three days off, then I’ll try to play a little bit,” Vinci said. “I think the most important thing is to rest a little because I played Montreal, Rio, Cincinnati. Too many weeks. So maybe I need two days off, some treatment of course, then try to recover.”
Larsson, who is 28, won her only singles title at Bastad in 2015. The victory against Vinci was just her second win against a Top 10 opponent in 13 matches. She defeated No. 6 Li Na at Miami in 2011.
“I think I played very solid,” said Larsson, who avenged a loss against Vinci in the qualifying round a year ago in New Haven. “I haven’t really given so much easy mistakes to my opponents, so they always had to play good tennis to win their points. It’s tough to play very good tennis during a whole match. Sometimes you have to give a little bit. When they have, then I’ve been there to take those opportunities.”
Larsson’s confidence has sky-rocketed after straight set wins over Timea Bacsinszky, Shelby Rogers and Vinci.
“Definitely,” Larsson added. “It’s always helping to play many matches and to play good tennis. It’s bringing yourself to a little bit more calm situation. You know when you go out there on the court, you’re going to be a tough cookie to beat.”