Petrova wins maiden title
/dnl.eurosport.com/sd/img/placeholder/eurosport_logo_1x1.png){kind=logo}
ByEurosport
Published 30/10/2005 at 14:25 GMT
In her 125th WTA Tour singles tournament, Russian Nadia Petrova won her first title. Disappointed in Berlin and Bangkok this year and on two other occasions, the 23-year-old recorded a scrappy 4-6 6-3 6-1 victory over fourth seed Patty Schnyder of Switzer
Eurosport
Image credit: Eurosport
"This is a great step forward for me," said Petrova. "It gives me a lot of confidence for next year and allows me to aim for more finals and more titles.
"It was very important that this happened finally. I've now achieved everything I wanted to this year - to play very consistently, to have good results in the grand slams, and now to win a title. I'm very happy," added the Muscovite.
There were doubts over whether Schnyder would compete in the title-match after the 26-year-old injured her left wrist when slamming her racquet to the indoor court during her semi-final victory over Serbian Ana Ivanovic on Saturday.
Without a bandage on her hand after plenty of icing overnight, Schnyder arrived on centre court at the Intersport Arena starting as the more consistent finalist during the first four games.
Petrova dropped her serve to love in the third game of the match, but came back to 3-3 on her sixth break point.
Schnyder, a runner-up in Zurich last week to world number one Lindsay Davenport, regained the initiative by breaking to 4-3 with a well-executed crosscourt backhand.
She then fought off three break points to serve out the 51-minute first set.
The service reverse continued in five of the first six games in the second set, but it was Petrova who broke to lead 4-2 after Schnyder had held three game points for 3-3 and maintained the advantage to take the set.
In four of their previous six meetings, the pair had engaged in a third set battle. While Petrova had won their last meeting at the semi-final stage of the same tournament two seasons ago, it was Schnyder who was the bookmakers favourite.
Despite memories of four final defeats, two in 2005 - losing to Justine Henin-Hardenne in Berlin and Nicole Vaidisova in Bangkok - Petrova broke the Schnyder serve three times winning her maiden title on a first of two match points for a 101-minute triumph.
Both players have yet to book their places in the WTA Championships, just nine days away, but it will be Petrova who replaces Wimbledon champion Venus Williams in eighth position in the WTA 2005 Race when the standings are announced on Monday.
By reaching the final, Schnyder moves up to eighth in the WTA Entry rankings, matching her career-best achieved in 1999.
She is seventh in the WTA 2005 Race for Los Angeles, with one tournament in Philadelphia to be played next week.
"I'm not too disappointed because I've reached two finals in the past two weeks," said Schnyder. "I'm playing well and looking forward to competing in Los Angeles."
Scan me
Share this article
Advertisement
Advertisement