Hungarian Agnes Szavay captured her home tournament at the Budapest Grand Prix on Sunday, beating Patty Schnyder 2-6, 6-4, 6-2 in the final.It was Szavay’s third WTA Tour singles title.“In the first set, I was too excited and that gave the set to the more experienced Patty,” Szavay said.
“I’m glad I managed to turn the score around and please the home crowd.”
(Via AP)
While world no.2 Serena Williams was stunned by Patty Schnyder in the second round of the WTA Rome claycourt International, Dinara Safina got down and dirty to prove she deserves to be the no.1 player in the world.
Safina defeated Virginie Razzano 7-6, 6-1, but was really unhappy with tournament organisers for making her play in what she felt were dangerous conditions."I was just so angry because you can get injured," said Safina, who fell over twice during the match.
"I mean, it's not funny. They tell us go and play because they think the court is fine but they are not playing on that court."
"Thank God I didn't break anything but if I broke something, I mean, so many players get injured."
"Then what should I say to the tournament? I (should) say thanks for pushing us to play?"
"I mean, they would say: Oh, we are sorry. But it's my career, it's three months off court (if you're injured)."
"So they have to have a little bit of respect for us as players."
I bet Safina feels a whole lot better today.
(Images via Sky Sports)
This is really funny!
On Monday, Serena Williams insisted that she's no. 1 in the world even though the women’s tennis rankings indicate otherwise.
“We all know who the real No. 1 is,” Serena said.
“Quite frankly, I’m the best in the world.”
Dinara Safina, who has never won a Grand Slam title, overtook Williams in the rankings two weeks ago.
Just one day after that statement, Patty Schnyder proved Serena wrong by defeating her in the world no.2 Rome opener!
Serena lost 6-2, 2-6, 6-1.
I think Serena must have forgotten that she's playing on clay at the Foro Italico.
(Images via Yahoo Sports)
Venus Williams won the Zurich Open on Sunday for her second singles title of the season.
Williams beat Italy’s Flavia Pennetta 7-6 (1), 6-2 to take the tournament she last won as a teenager in 1999.The win should seal the 28-year-old American’s place at the season-ending WTA Tour Championship in Doha next month. “I love the pressure,” Williams said.
“I need it in my life."
“It is great to come here and play my best tennis of the week in the final against someone who is playing as well as she is.”
Venus is being congratulated by her Dad and her dog, Herald.
Flavia Pennetta (far left), winner Venus Williams, Elmar Ledergerber the Mayor of Zurich, and tournament director Beat Ritschard (far right) pose after the Final Singles match at the Zurich Open tennis tournament.“She just played unbelievable today,” the 17th-ranked Pennetta said.
“It is tough to play against someone who serves like she did today. I didn’t have any chance to make any breaks.”
Williams said she would return to Florida before the Nov. 4-9 Tour finale in Qatar. “I will go home and rest a little bit and continue to prepare and get ready for Doha,” she said.
Williams is expected to climb one place to No. 8 when the new WTA rankings are published Monday; Pennetta hopes to rise three spots to a career-best 14th.
Liezel Huber (left) and Cara Black collected their 9th doubles title of the year and
their first career Zurich trophy.
In the doubles final, Cara Black and Liezel Huber quickly bounced back to their title-winning ways when they clinched the Zurich Open yesterday.Exactly a week after losing in the final of the Kremlin Cup in Moscow, Russia, top seeds Black and Huber were smiling again yesterday after beating home favourite Patty Schnyder and Anna-Lena Groenefeld of Germany in straight sets 6-1, 7-6 (7-3) in the final of the US$600 000 Tier II indoor tournament, according to reports from the Swiss capital.This was Black and Huber’s ninth doubles title of the year.For beating the wildcard pairing of Schnyder and Groenefeld in the final of this year’s Zurich Open, Black and Huber, will split US$30,000 which was at stake for the winners of the doubles title.They are currently leading the Tour with 5 060 points, with more than 1 800 points over the third player (Katarina Srebotnik with 3 200 points) and with the level of tennis they have been playing these past two years, the domination of the African born duo is most likely to continue for quite some time.(Via AP, herald.co.zw, Images via Yahoo! Sport, WTA official website)
New No. 1 Jelena Jankovic won her second title in two weeks, defeating Nadia Petrova of Russia 6-4, 6-3 Sunday in the final of the Porsche Grand Prix.The 23-year-old Serb also won the China Open last week and the Italian Open earlier this year. “I am really proud of myself,” she said.
“I am playing with a lot of confidence and I played some good tennis this week.”
Jankovic was assured of taking the top ranking Monday from Serena Williams regardless of the outcome of the final.
She already held the No. 1 spot for one week in August. “I feel that every day I am getting better and better. I am really working on my game, I want to reach my full potential,” Jankovic said.
Williams became the No. 1 after defeating Jankovic at the U.S. Open final, but the American will drop in the rankings after losing her opening match in Stuttgart.
Jankovic won her eighth career title after overcoming a brief lapse in the second set against the 18th-ranked Russian, who won the Stuttgart tournament in 2006.
After the win, Jankovic took a spin in the red Porsche 911 convertible given to the winner and appeared to have more trouble controlling the powerful car than the match.
She broke serve in the opening game and it was enough to give her the set against an error-prone Petrova. “I really wanted to win this trophy, and when you want too much, sometimes it doesn’t work in tennis,” Petrova said.
“I gave it my best.”
Petrova had not dropped a set this week until the final.
Jankovic has been playing with a painful left foot after tearing off a toe nail. She needed painkiller shots before her semifinal win over Venus Williams and got two more before the final.Asked about her foot at the post-match news conference, Jankovic misunderstood the question and replied, “The food is great.”
Realizing the mistake, Jankovic burst out laughing and then added: “It’s numb during the match and I don’t feel anything, but after a couple of hours it hurts a lot,” she said.
“The doctor told me to wear flip-flops but I am flying to Serbia tonight, I can’t go in flip-flops like I am going to the beach.”
Jankovic is scheduled to play the Kremlin Cup next week. Although she left open whether she would actually show up in Moscow for the tournament, which Williams is skipping. “I feel tired now, but mentally I am not tired, I am hungry to do well. I want to finish the year as No. 1,” she said.
The doubles final, which followed the singles final, saw top seeds Kveta Peschke and Rennae Stubbs taking on the wildcard pairing of Patty Schnyder and Anna-Lena Groenefeld.
And it was the underdogs who came out on top, as Groenefeld and Schnyder won their first title together with a 62 64 upset victory.
Groenefeld won her seventh career Tour doubles title, and first since the beginning of 2007; Schnyder picked up her fifth Tour doubles title, her first since early 2004.
(Via AP, Images via Yahoo! Sport, zimbio.com)
You've read about Vera Zvonareva attended the Istanbul Cup’s official opening ceremony that took place at the Archeology Museum.
The girls attended the ceremony which lasted three hours and ended with a concert by Eurovision singer Hadise.
And of course the girls know what they are supposed to do there - dance and have fun!
