BUDAPEST, Hungary - Romanian qualifier Sorana Cirstea caused the latest upset at the Gaz de France Budapest Grand Prix, when she defeated No.5 seed Eleni Daniilidou on Friday. She was one of three teenagers to make it into the semifinals of the $175,000, Tier III event, joining her will be Karin Knapp, Agnes Szavay and No.6 seed Gisela Dulko. All four players are bidding to capture their maiden Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles title.
17-year old Cirstea had to battle through three rounds of qualifying just to reach the main draw and will be delighted with her performance this week. However, the World No.325 made an inauspicious start, looking nervous, committing a string of unforced errors and dropping the opening set in under half an hour.
In the second set the youngster started to find her rhythm and Daniilidou struggled to cope with her aggressive strokes from the back of the court. After leveling the match at one set apiece, Cirstea showed tremendous mental strength to snatch a compelling final set, and progress with a 26 61 64 victory.
World No.97 Knapp lies in wait for Cirstea after a highly impressive 62 61 win over Luxembourg's Anne Kremer. This was the Italian's second win against a former Top 20 player this week; she dismissed former World No.17 Karolina Sprem on Wednesday.
Knapp secured early breaks of serve in both sets, and once ahead she refused to allow her more experienced opponent back into the match. It was a mature display from the 19-year-old, against a player previously ranked as high as No.18 and she will hope to carry this form into Saturdays meeting with Cirstea.
Argentina's Gisela Dulko became the first player to book a place in the semifinals, when she defeated Ukrainian lucky loser Olga Savchuk, 63 64. The match was first up on centre court and the No.6 seed started the match in supreme form, needing little more than half an hour to capture the first set.
The second set started off with five consecutive breaks of serve and once Savchuk held to take a 4-2 lead, it appeared the match was heading towards a deciding set. This setback seemed to spur the 22-year-old back into life and she responded by reeling off four straight games to take the set and match.
Next up for Dulko will be Hungarian star Agnes Szavay who profited from No.4 seed Emilie Loit's withdrawal on Friday afternoon. Frenchwoman Loit was the highest seed remaining in the draw, and will be bitterly disappointed at having to pull out of the event on account of a gastrointestinal illness.
18-year-old wildcard Szavay can now look forward to a meeting with former world No.26 Dulko, and will hope the fervent support of the Hungarian crowd can spur her on towards another upset and a place in the final. Szavay defeated No.7 seed Elena Likhovtseva earlier in the week and has yet to drop a set in the tournament. However, Dulko will be just as eager for success and as the highest seed left in the draw, will view this tournament as a golden opportunity to capture her first Tour singles title.
The two semifinals will be compelling viewing and after a week that has been littered with upsets, the only certain thing is that come Sunday one player will be lifting their first Tour trophy. (WTA)
