It also helps that all those nagging injuries from last year, particularly a bothersome knee injury, have all but disappeared.
Kirilenko Beats the No. 6 Seed
Kirilenko needed treatment for a shoulder problem earlier this month but seemed at full strength when she beat Israel's Shahar Peer, 6-4, 6-3, on Thursday, July 29, 2010 at the Bank of the West Classic.
Kirilenko, who will play third-seeded Agnieszka Radwanska in Friday's quarterfinals, has already clinched her best finish at the event in three trips to Stanford.
Peer became the first seeded player to fall in the tournament. The 23-year-old came into the tournament with a 31-13 record on the season and is ranked 16th.
"I played her earlier in the season and lost in three sets," Kirilenko said. "This time I decided to be a lot more aggressive. I played not too bad. I can play better."
Kirilenko's Year in Review
It's been a season marked by good results for the 27th-ranked player in the world. Kirilenko reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, the fourth round at Roland Garros, and the third round at Wimbledon, all career best finishes.
Kirilenko fell out of the top 30 for the first in four years last season after losing in the first round in 12 of the 25 tournaments she entered. She's shifted into gear and has won at least one match in 10 of her first 13 tournaments this time around.
"I've played a lot of matches and beat some good players and that gives me so much confidence," Kirilenko said. "It starts with fitness. I didn't do a lot of it when I hurt my knee. Right now everything is fine."
The results from her Grand Slam appearances this season has her thinking large.
"It's not good when you can't practice fully," Kirilenko said. "I started practicing last week but without my serve. My first goal is to be healthy and to be better every week, every month and every year. And yes, I'd like to win a major tournament."
Kirilenko needed to take a week off after Wimbledon to recover from a shoulder injury, which forced her to withdraw from Bastad. She said it doesn't bother her and she's ready to move forward in the U.S. Open series.
She's won five career singles titles, but none since Estoril in 2008. In 2009 she reached the finals at Barcelona and the semifinals at Seoul.
If she stays healthy, Kirilenko should make a return into the top 20 sometime this summer. She's spent 11 weeks of her nine-year career among the elite. She likes the idea of getting back.
Seeing the Doubles Main Draw
The team of Great Britain's Sarah Borwell and UC-Berkeley grad Raquel Kops-Jones haver become the surprise of the tournament. They advanced into the semifinals with a tie-breaker victory over veteran Lilia Osterloh and UCLA alum Riza Zalameda on Thursday.
Kops-Jones and Borwell opened the tournament with an upset victory over top-seeded Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs.
"I think we've been coming close the last two months to having a breakthrough," Borwell said. "It's a relief at the moment to have actually done it, but we deserve it with all the hard work we have put in."
They could meet former world No. 1 Lindsay Davenport and Liezel Huber in the next round. Davenport is one of four former No. 1 players entered in the Bank of the West Classic along with Maria Sharapova, Dinara Safina and Ana Ivanovic.
Rick Eymer - I have written for The San Mateo Times, the Santa Rosa Press Democrat and am currently working part-time as an assistant sports editor at ...
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