Player of the week: Alisa Kleybanova

Despite not being as popular as other players, 20 y.o. Russian Alisa Kleybanova is one of the upcoming youngsters in the WTA Tour. But this might change soon as Alisa captured her 1st career WTA title in Malaysia last week.


After an esy straight sets win over former Top-10 Alicia Molik in the 1st round, Alisa had to come back from a set down two overcome two dangerous opponents, Alla Kudryavtseva and Anastasia Rodionova, in the 2nd round and quarter-final respectively. But this tough victories boosted Kleybanova's confidence, and in the semifinal she swept Japanese youngster Ayumi Morita to reach a WTA final for the first time. And her opponent was one of the best players with an impressive 14-2 record and 2 titles so far this season, WTA #7 Elena Dementieva. But Kleybanova felt no pressure and dominated the match with her powerful serve and groundstrokes for a 6/3 6/2 win.