September 19, 2013 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
Photo credit: Kenneth B. Goldberg
Kimiko Date-Krumm upset the second-seeded Maria Kirilenko in the second round of the 2013 KDB Korea Open on Thursday, 6-3, 6-1. Date-Krumm, who had rallied from a set and a break down to beat Heather Watson in the first round, was sharp against Kirilenko, winning six games in a row at one point—taking her from 4-3 in the first set to 6-3, 4-0 through to her straight-sets victory.
She next plays Italy’s Francesca Schiavone on Friday. Date-Krumm’s win over the Kirilenko was her 10th win over a top 20 player since coming back to the tour in 2008. She had eight top 20 wins during a re-breakthrough 2010 season, including victories over Virginie Razzano, Nadia Petrova, Dinara Safina, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, Maria Sharapova, Sam Stosur, Shahar Peer and Li Na, and got her ninth earlier this year against Petrova.
"Maria is a very strong player, but I felt she had some kind of problem today," Date-Krumm said. "She didn’t run everywhere like she usually does, so I think she had something wrong with her. She wasn’t putting as much pressure on me today, so I just had to control myself and my game until the end."
