Fitzpatrick, Veselinovic Set Up Semifinal Showdown
 
Monte-Carlo Tennis Academy stars Anna Fitzpatrick and Ana Veselinovic set up a semifinal showdown in the $10,000 ITF tournament in Calgary after contrasting quarterfinal victories in Canada.

Known affectionately by each other as 'Fat Bloke' (Fitzpatrick) and 'Yastog' (Veselinovic), the two friends and doubles partners will meet for the fourth time with Serbian Veselinovic leading their head-to-head series 2-1, although Fitzpatrick won their last encounter in Sunderland earlier this year.

Fitzpatrick, seeded No. 3 in what is her first hard court tournament since reaching the semifinals of the Junior Wimbledon Championships earlier this month, came through a testing 6-4, 7-5 clash with American Nicole Leimbach in the quarterfinals.

The 18-year-old from Sheffield saw a 4-0 lead in the first set disappear before gathering her composure, and then found herself trailing 3-2 in the second.

"I was pleased to come through because the score got close and I got tight," said Fitzpatrick. "But I pulled myself out of it and played more aggressively from 2-3 in the second set. I was changing gears better and reacting to shorter balls faster, so then I could take them on and follow them to the net."

Veselinovic, the No. 2 seed, has been in sparkling form going into the semifinals, following up her 6-1, 6-2 victory over Dominika Dieskova in the second round with another emphatic 6-0, 6-1 quarterfinal win against Katarena Paliivets of Canada.

"I'm in the semifinals which is good not only because of that but also because of how I responded after losing last week in the first round in Hamilton," said the 19-year-old left-hander. "I'm also pleased with how I started to move more through the ball, and I feel like I did a great job today."

The duo are also through to the semifinals of the doubles competition, losing just one game against Miya Solic and Jelena Tomasovic in the quarters. They will now face Melanie Gloria and Kady Pooler for a place in the final.