At the US$10,000 ITF Women's Circuit event in Brussels, number one seed Zhang Ling (WTA 320) was attempting to reach her third career singles final on the pro circuit, but fell to unseeded Danielle Harmsen (WTA 605) of Holland, 6-3, 6-4, in the semifinals.
Harmsen, a left-hander, was evidently in good clay form coming into Brussels after having reached the semifinals at the C10 Alkmaar and the final at the C10 Breda just last month.
She is slated to face No. 7 seed Emilie Bacquet of France in the final.
Earlier in the quarterfinals, Zhang Ling saw off Bibiane Schoofs (WTA 582) after the No. 6 seed had to retire when she trailed 5-4 in the opening set.
So far this year, the 20-year-old from Rhenen had already reached two C10 semifinals and was a finalist at two other tournaments – C10 Cairo and C10 Edinburgh.
Schoofs was ranked as high as No. 14 on the ITF World Junior Circuit two years ago and was a victor over Venise Chan at the Grade 1 Opus Nottinghill International Down Under one week prior to the start of the 2006 Australian Open Junior Championships.
In the opening round, Zhang Ling ran into a bit of bother against an opponent who had beaten her before. The last time Zhang Ling went up against Nicolette van Uitert was at the 2005 Junior Fed Cup World Finals in Barcelona where the Dutch player triumphed in straight sets, 6-2, 7-5, in a 3-0 overall victory for Holland in the 9th-12th Place Playoffs.
This time round, however, Zhang Ling managed to turn the tables on the 17-year-old by claiming a close first set before going on to win the match in three, 7-6(1), 4-6, 6-3.
HKTA Elite Coach, Alastair Todd, reports from Brussels: "Lynn struggled to get settled in this match under wet and windy conditions, and in the first set found herself down 1-3 and then 3-5 before staging a fightback to level it at 5-all and then going on to take the set in a breaker."
"Van Uitert was serving particularly well in this match, and was backing that up with some aggressive play off the ground. She used her forehand to good effect, and set up a number of winners off both wings with that shot. Her mid-court game was also very strong, favouring the down-the-line ball to attack behind and in fact had quite a high winner count with this shot."
He went on, "After another slow start in the 2nd set, Lynn was down 1-4 then trailed 2-5 before again mounting a late charge. There were a couple of close games at 2-4 and 4-5 that could have gone Lynn's way, but an out ball on game point to Lynn that wasn't called or challenged, plus a shot from the opponent right on the line that bounced over the fence on set point gave the set to the Dutch player."
"Fortunately, the patience required on clay that we had discussed over the past three weeks started to show through, and despite not playing what could be called pretty tennis, Lynn kept the ball in play when she had to and began drawing more loose errors from her lower-ranked opponent."
"She was able to apply enough pressure with her depth of shot in the 3rd set to quickly jump out to a 4-1 lead in what were becoming really blustery conditions. Her serve was in fact her strongest shot throughout the match, as she was able to make good deliveries on important points and was often able to serve her way out of break point situations," was the final word from Belgium.
However, in the doubles, Zhang Ling came unstuck against van Uitert again, as she and her partner, Marinela Antonic of Australia, went out against the Dutch duo of Kiki Bertens and Nicolette van Uitert in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2, in the quarterfinals.
Next up for Zhang Ling is the C25 Zwevegem, also in Belgium, where she is currently 12th on the DA List after a slew of withdrawals from players ranked in the Top-200.
Related Story:
Sixth-seeded Dutch downs Hong Kong in opening JFC consolation playoffs (2 Oct 2005)
Results
US$10,000 ITF Women's Circuit
Brussels, Belgium
7-13 July 2008
WOMEN'S SINGLES
First Round
(1)Zhang Ling (HKG) d. (q)Nicolette van Uitert (NED) 7-6(1) 4-6 6-3
Second Round
(1)Zhang Ling (HKG) d. (WC)Appollonia Melzani (BEL) 6-4 7-6(4)
Quarterfinals
(1)Zhang Ling (HKG) d. (6)Bibiane Schoofs (NED) 5-4 - Retired
Semifinals
Danielle Harmsen (NED) d. (1)Zhang Ling (HKG) 6-3 6-4
WOMEN'S DOUBLES
Quarterfinals
Kiki Bertens/Nicolette van Uitert (NED) d. Zhang Ling/Marinela Antonic (HKG/AUS) 6-4 6-2