Injury strikes semi-finals
With Wimbledon just around the corner, it's understandable that players have no desire to take any risks with their bodies: tournaments in the week before Slams are always at risk of precautionary withdrawals. Nonetheless, it was disappointing that two of Friday's four semi-finals were over after only three games.
In Nottingham, Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis was widely considered the favourite to reach his 12th career ATP Tour final over the world No.92, Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan. With a point to consolidate an early break at 2-1, Baghdatis elected to serve-and-volley - but limped to his chair immediately afterwards. He played just one more point after a medical time-out, and later said that the issue was a suspected tear in the calf muscle; Baghdatis will take an ultrasound test later on Friday before deciding whether he is able to compete at Wimbledon.
Eastbourne's No.2 seed, Denmark's Caroline Wozniacki, was out of sorts from the off against her Swiss opponent, Belinda Bencic. With her right knee patched, Wozniacki's serve and movement were visibly hampered, and she retired trailing 0-3. The 18-year-old Bencic thus becomes the youngest player to reach a Premier-level final since Wozniacki herself, at New Haven in 2008.
Dolgopolov loses concentration again
Luckily for the crowds, the remaining semi-finals were dramatic, three-set affairs. In Nottingham, Ukraine's unpredictable Alexandr Dolgopolov contrived to lose from a set and a break up against No.12 seed Sam Querrey.
During the match's first half, Dolgopolov's speed and flair seemed to have the beating of the 6'6" American. Although Querrey was still firing down the aces, Dolgopolov was hitting both the expected impossible winners and confounding switch-ups - and, when needed, playing sensibly and efficiently. It couldn't last.
As Querrey warmed to his task, increasingly mindful of Dolgopolov's tricky game getting him out of position, the Ukrainian's concentration lapsed: the racket was thrown, the stream of muttering from his ill-tempered quarter-final resumed and the errors began to gather.
But Dolgopolov's demeanour belies his resilience, and Querrey was forced to up his level throughout a tight decider which was eventually decided by another patch of careless play by Dolgopolov to gift the key break at 5-5.
Querrey, playing his second final of 2015 after a loss to Jack Sock in Houston in April, will be the favourite for Saturday's final as he goes for his eighth career title, and second on grass after Queen's in 2010. Istomin, on the other hand, will be playing for his debut trophy in his third ATP final. Querrey leads their head-to-head 4-2, although they are tied on grass: the American came out on top at Queen's in 2012, but Istomin took a tight three-setter at Eastbourne in 2009.
Radwanska's grass renaissance
Coming into her semi-final against American Sloane Stephens, Agnieszka Radwanska had not lost more than two games in any of the six sets she had played this week. This pattern continued: after Radwanska hung tough to save 10 break points in her first two games, Stephens subsided into error-strewn play and Radwanska sped through the remainder of the set. At one point, a pep talk from Stephens' coach, Nick Saviano, resulted only in the Pole revving up her game on resumption.
But Stephens is arguably playing better tennis right now than in 2013, her break-out season in which she beat an injured Serena Williams to reach the Australian Open semi-finals and subsequently peak at world No.11. She may have fallen to No.43, but Stephens' backhand and footwork are no longer the weaknesses they once were - and nor could she be counted out of a bad situation.
Despite first squandering a break lead and then gifting another break at 5-5 to the Pole, Stephens showed resilience in taking advantage of Radwanska's sudden passivity as she neared the finishing line.
As the gusts of wind continued to swirl, though, it was the former champion who dealt with the conditions better: as in the opening set, Radwanska weathered a tight start to the set before pulling away, despite the onslaught of first Stephens' impressive net forays and then a dive-bombing seagull.
"You have to be really patient in that kind of match and try to use the wind with you in all your shots," she explained. "I was trying to do that and I think I was OK!"
Stephens, then, remains without a WTA final to her name while Radwanska goes for her 15th title, and second in Eastbourne, on Saturday. Bencic, for her part, has impressively notched up a third final in just her second full WTA Tour season - but is yet to win one. It will be a compelling match-up between two of the most cerebral players on the circuit.
Zheng thrives as doubles specialist
Zheng Jie of China has enjoyed a wonderful career: part of the Top 100 for most of the past 12 years, she collected four singles titles, reached two Slam semi-finals - including Wimbledon in 2008 - and reached a career high of No.15, and collected big-stage scalps from Venus Williams to Ana Ivanovic. Her mixture of speed and flat-hitting, risky aggression made for thrilling tennis, particularly when up against harder hitters.
But beset by injury for the umpteenth time, she quietly retired from singles after the Australian Open in January. Happily for fans, this doesn't mean she's gone for good: a two-time Slam doubles champion, she is now concentrating on that discipline. Her partnership with Chinese Taipei's Chan Yung-Jan - another former top 50 singles player now focusing on the team game - has been a profitable one. On Friday, they reached their first final since the Australian Open when Russian duo Ekaterina Makarova and Elena Vesnina pulled out, citing an Achilles injury on Makarova's part.
Chan and Zheng will face the French-Slovene partnership of Caroline Garcia and Katarina Srebotnik, who also teamed up in January and who beat Swiss-Italian crowd favourites Martina Hingis and Flavia Pennetta 7-5, 6-4. Srebotnik, with five Slam mixed doubles trophies on her mantelpiece as well as the 2011 Wimbledon ladies' doubles trophy, is easily the more accomplished of the pair, who will be going for their first victory in three finals this year.
Meanwhile in Nottingham, Australia's Chris Guccione and Brazil's Andre Sa took a tight match tie-break to make the final 2-6, 6-2, [11-9] over American-British duo Eric Butorac and Colin Fleming. Guccione and Sa will be looking for their first title together against the No.2 seeds, Rome champions Pablo Cuevas, of Uruguay, and David Marrero, of Spain.
