• Tournament of Champions

Defending champion Rezai crashes out in Bali

ESPN staff
November 5, 2010
Aravane Rezai has won just four of her last 12 matches © Getty Images
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Daniela Hantuchova upset Yanina Wickmayer to complete a clean sweep of the seeds at the Tournament of Champions in Bali.

After top see Na Li and No. 3 seed Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova were sent crashing out on Thursday, Wickmayer followed second seed and defending champion Aravane Rezai out of the draw.

Rezai was broken six times as she was comprehensively outplayed by Alisa Kleybanova. The Russian made inroads into Rezai's weak second serve, winning 81% of points.

After beating Justine Henin, Jelena Jankovic and Venus Williams en route to winning the Madrid Open in May, she went on to claim her fourth career title at the Swedish Open, but has failed to record back-to-back victories since July.

"I'm a little bit down in my confidence because I lost a lot of matches during the end of the season," Rezai said. "I didn't play well today at the important points and that's why the score is like this."

Kleybanova will now face Hantuchova, who extended her unbeaten record against Wickmayer to five matches. Hantuchova, who was a beaten finalist to Lindsay Davenport in 2007, had the chance to wrap up the victory when she served for the match at 5-4 in the second set, but was broken to love before clinching the tiebreak when Wickmayer served her eighth double fault.

The winner of Saturday's semi-final will meet either Ana Ivanovic or Kimiko Date Krumm in the final.

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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