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Vera winning the battle against inner demons
If Robert Louis Stevenson had ever seen Russia's Vera Zvonareva play, we might never have heard of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde.
One year after suffering a very public meltdown at the US Open, the softly-spoken but temperamental Russian reached the semifinals in New York for the first time with a 6-3 7-5 win over Estonia's Kaia Kanepi on Wednesday.
The emotional side of Zvonareva was on display at Flushing Meadows last year when she had a meltdown during a third-round match against Italy's Flavia Pennetta.
Her emotions were in check on Wednesday as got by Kanepi in strong winds at Flushing Meadows, but the Russian, who reached her first grand slam final at Wimbledon this year, said keeping her emotions in check was never a simple task.
"I think sometimes you should get angry with yourself," Zvonareva said after setting up a clash with top seed Caroline Wozniacki or unseeded Slovakian Dominika Cibulkova. "Sometimes you should pump yourself up. But you have to always be out there and trying not to get frustrated against anybody."
At last year's US Open, Zvonareva smashed rackets, hit herself in the head and slammed her leg in rage as she missed six match points and eventually lost to Pennetta.
Video of the match became something of a YouTube classic but Zvonareva said that she is a better player in part because of what happened against the Italian.
"There is something to learn about from every match you play," she said. "So there are probably things that have made me more a experienced player at the moment."
Zvonareva, who combines her tennis with studying for a second degree in international economic relations, said reaching the final at Wimbledon simply confirmed her belief.
"I don't question myself," she said. "I always believed in myself. I'm just going out there and trying my best in every match. It's been working pretty good for me so far."
