Belgium crowd was delighted with the victory of local hero and world #1 Justine Henin, who didn't need to play her best tennis to get the title in a tournament plenty of surprises. While Paris finalists Anna Chakvetadze and Agnes Szavay suffered early losses, three qualifiers advanced to the quarter-finals: Alisa Kleybanova, Sofia Arvidsson and Timea Baczinski, who defeated Top 10 Daniela Hantuchova for a place in the semifinals. But the biggest surprise was 20 yo Italian Karin Knapp, who defeated 4th seed Patty Schnyder and 9th seed Na Li to reach a WTA final for the first time in her career. The draw was easy for Henin, who just needed to beat three qualifiers and WTA #47 Knapp to get her 41th WTA title, although she dropped sets to Pironkova and Baczinski.
On the other hand, Flavia Pennetta got the title in the first edition of new WTA tournament in Viña del Mar. Withdrawal of 2nd seed Gisela Dulko due to an injury made the things even easier for the Italian, who didn't drop a set in the whole week. Runner-up was Czech Klara Zakopalova.
Antwerp (BEL), Tier II, $600,000
Final: Justine Henin (BEL) def Karin Knapp (ITA) 6/3 6/3
Viña del Mar (CHI), Tier III, $200,000
Final: Flavia Pennetta (ITA) def. Klara Zakopalova (CZE) 6/4 5/4 ret.
No comments:
Post a Comment