Russian-American showdown on Bang Saen beach
Russian third seeds Evgenia Ukolova and Ekaterina Khomyakova have set up a showdown in the final against London Olympic silver medallists Jennifer Kessy and April Ross of the US in the Bang Saen PTT Thailand Open at Laem Taen.
In the first semi-final, Ukolova and Khomyakova, ranked No 14 on the FIVB Swatch World Tour, powered past Brazilian fifth seeds Agatha Bednarczuk and Barbara Seixas de Freitas 21-13 20-22 15-13 in 59 minutes.
“It was very hot out there, but we are used to this humidity and temperature. Last month, we played on the Brazilian tour and it was 50 degrees Celsius. We finished second there,” said Bednarczuk, who was unbeaten en-route to the semi-finals.
An exhausted Khomyakova said precision hitting helped them win the match. “The Brazilians played well with good blocks, but we did our best to overcome their blocking.
“We lost to Americans Lauren Fendrick and Nicole Branagh before and we have never played Jennifer Kessy and April Ross. If we have a choice, we prefer Kessy and Ross. However, it’s still okay if we have to play Fendrick and Branagh. Before coming here, we trained intensively for three weeks in Italy,” the finalist said.
The other semi-final encounter saw second seeds Jennifer Kessy and April Ross rallied to beat old foes and fellow Americans Lauren Fendrick and Nicole Branaghm – the team they lost to in the third round – 15-21 21-11 15-8.
It is the fourth time that Kessy and Ross are playing in a final on the Thailand World Tour. The Americans captured the title in 2008, 2009 and finished second in 2011.
In their morning play-offs, Kessy and Ross came from behind to beat Maria Tsiartsiani and Vasliki Arvaniti in a hard-fought three-set thriller 19-21 21-18 15-13. The defeat left the Greeks in joint seventh position.
Later Kessy and Ross, who stand 180cm and 185cm tall respectively, brushed off Kazakhstan’s Irina Tsimbalova and Tatyana Mashikova 21-18 21-15. The Kazakh pair’s fifth place fetched them US$5,500 prize money plus a special US$3,600 bonus (Bt273,000). Elsewhere, fourth seeds Anna Vozakova and Anastasia Vasina of Russia knocked Emilia Nystrom and Taru Lati out of the competition, 21-16 21-13. The Finns finished joint 17th while Vozakova and Vasina advanced to the next play-off against Ukolova and Khomyakova.
Vozakova and Vasina lost the first set 22-24. But before the start of the second set, Vasina conceded the match due to the searing heat that had taken a toll on her body. The Russian duo finished joint fifth and collected US$9,100 (around Bt273,000).
The third-place play-off will be held at 3.30pm, followed by the final at 4.30pm and the awards presentation. NBT (Channel 7) will televise the event live from 4pm.
