Kimiko stops Chinese youngster Yi in semis

The 42-year-old Japanese veteran made it to her third straight ITF title round this season after giving a 6-2, 6-3 tennis lesson to the upcoming Chinese player from Shanhgai, Yi-Mio Zhou, in the semi-final of the Al Habtoor Challenge at the Habtoor Grand Beach Resort & Spa on Friday afternoon.

In the challenge round at 2pm on Saturday, the eighth seeded Tokyo ace will meet the winner of the second semi-final between Krystina Pliskova the number five seed and Kazakhstan’s unseeded Yulia Putinseva, who is coached by former world champion Martina Hingis.

At the time of going to the Press, the rain curtailed second semi-final had a 6-2, 3-3 reading in favour of the tall Krystina with serve in store next for the strongly built Yulia.

Twenty one year-old Yi said: “Too many unforced errors. Kimiko is such a great player that despite her senior years she is able to move so fast and cut down on the pace whenever she chooses. She is without doubt most difficult to beat anywhere any time.”

Kimiko said: “I think I should be more easy going and try to relax more often than keep thinking about the game all the time. Today (Friday) I slept much better than on Thursday which was a big relief.

“Being the final match of the year for me and the third straight final with two losses in the Pune and Tokyo ITF title rounds prior to Dubai is a bit hard to shun aside. Third time lucky people say. I don’t want to think too much into it. Compared to the quarter-final clash against Karolina Pliskova, Yi was an easier story mainly due to the errors on her forehands.”

The straight set wrap-up was earned the hard way midway through the sets as the ‘teacher’ and ‘student’ fought tenaciously in a bid to stamp their authority.

Set 1 went cruise control for the Tokyo superstar who is being coached by former Japanese Davis Cupper Haruo Nakano.

Kimiko sent her flat well angled serves off low tossed serves into the deep corners of the Chinese girl’s court. The lack of pace in her second serve was more than made up with subtle variations and spin added to it.