PONTE VEDRA, Fla. (AP)—Fourth-seeded Elena Vesnina defeated an exhausted Melanie Oudin 6-2, 6-1 to advance to the semifinals of the MPS Group Championships on Friday.
The eighth-seeded Oudin held serve only once in the second set and committed several errors while being kept off balance by a variety of Vesnina’s shots. Their match began about 12 hours after Oudin went to bed following her victory over Peng Shuai in a 2 1/2 -hour match Thursday night.
“I was pretty exhausted today,” the American said. “We got done about 10 (Thursday) and after I finished doing everything got into bed about 1. … I guess they could have put me later on today. But, that’s the way it goes.”
Third-seeded Dominika Cibulkova beat sixth-seeded Aleksandra Wozniak 7-5, 6-1 to gain the other semifinal against Olga Gorvotsova, who ousted Varvara Lepchenko 6-3, 6-2.
Oudin depends on her court movement and said she gives up “free points” when she can’t move well.
“When I woke up this morning I kind of knew it wasn’t going to be my best moving day out there,” she said. “She’s a really good player so I needed to be at my best to beat her and I wasn’t.”
The match was decided early in the first set when Vesnina broke Oudin for a 3-2 lead. Oudin won only one game the rest of the match.
Vesnina acknowledged Oudin’s lack of sleep, but the Russian said it was the best match she has played this year.
“This year, probably yes, this is the first match I have played really well from beginning until the end,” Vesnina said. “I was expecting a little longer match, but I think she was a little tired after Thursday’s match.”
Vesnina will play the winner of the night quarterfinal between Caroline Wozniacki and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.