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News & Press
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Benjamin strolled past Martin
Benjamin Becker strolled past Martin Vassallo Arguello 6-3 6-3
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Pennetta expects Italy to go crazy after reaching top 10
CINCINNATI (Reuters) - Flavia Pennetta became the first Italian female to reach the world's top 10 on Friday and said she expected a "crazy" reaction when she returned home next month.
The 27-year-old beat Slovak Daniela Hantuchova 6-3 6-3 to reach the semi-finals of the Cincinnati Open and extend her winning streak to 15 matches, ensuring she will break into the top 10 when the new rankings are released on Monday.
"It's a dream come true," 14th seed Pennetta told reporters. "I always hoped to be one of the best players in the world and now I'm there so it's crazy.
"It really means a lot. Everyone expected something like this from the beginning of the year because I was number 11 in February."
While Adriano Panatta and Corrado Barazzuti made the top 10 in the men's game, Pennetta is the first Italian female to do so but she will be unable to witness the reaction back home until her U.S. Open campaign ends.
"I have only spoken with my mum so far. I've already received I don't know how many SMS's so I think it's going to be crazy," said Pennetta.
"Maybe it's better for me to be here (for now). I can be more focused. Then after this long trip of tournaments I'll go there and really enjoy this moment."
The U.S. Open starts on August 31.
Wednesday, August 12, 2009
Pennetta Wins in Los Angeles
Sunday, August 09, 2009
Pennetta Conquers Los Angeles
LOS ANGELES, CA, USA - Flavia Pennetta won the eighth and biggest title of her Sony Ericsson WTA Tour career on Sunday, beating Samantha Stosur in straight sets for the Premier-level LA Women's Tennis Championships.
Pennetta and Stosur, who, seeded No.10 and No.13, were not among the favorites when the draw came out a week earlier, both enjoyed scintillating runs to the final. Pennetta pulled off two Top 10 upsets along the way, getting past Nadia Petrova and Vera Zvonareva in back-to-back matches before winning a thrilling semifinal against Maria Sharapova on Saturday night; Stosur didn't face any Top 10 players but she didn't lose a single set to get to the title match.
The two in-form players collided on Stadium court on Sunday afternoon and it was Pennetta who looked fresher, with a positive winners-to-errors differential (18-16) and her trademark controlled aggression that had taken her to seven Tour titles before this one. Stosur, who was 0-4 in finals before this one, had a tough time, with a negative differential (19-32) and losing her serve four times. Pennetta emerged with her biggest trophy yet after a 64 63 victory.
"I think my serve was very good today. Almost all week it helped me a lot in the important points," said Pennetta, who lost her serve just once in the final, allowing Stosur to close from 1-3 to 3-3 in the second set. "When I was aggressive I won the points today. That was a big step for me to improve my game. I've played a few finals before... I was ready to play the final today."
Pennetta's first seven singles titles on the Tour all came below the Premier level, and only one of them - Bangkok in 2007 - came on hardcourts, with the other six coming on clay. She is now 8-9 lifetime in Tour singles finals. She is also on an 11-match win streak: 5-0 to win Palermo a few weeks ago, 6-0 to win here.
Stosur fell to 0-5 lifetime in Tour singles finals, having finished runner-up at Gold Coast and Sydney in 2005, Prague in 2006 and Seoul last season.
"Sure, I'm disappointed. I would have loved to win my first title today. But it wasn't meant to be," Stosur said. "I played a very good player today and she played a little better than me. It's certainly something I'm going to build on the rest of the year and the rest of the US summer."
http://www.sonyericssonwtatour.com/page/LatestNews/Read/0,,12781~1748828,00.html#
Tuesday, August 04, 2009
Becker Spoils American Party In Washington
 © Getty ImagesBenjamin Becker has won four hard-court Challenger titles in 2009. German Benjamin Becker prevented a second-round clash between Americans Andy Roddick and Robby Ginepri at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic as he prevailed 7-6(3), 6-7(1), 7-6(4) over recent Indianapolis champion Ginepri on Tuesday afternoon at the ATP World Tour 500 tennis tournament in Washington, D.C. Ginepri, who was looking to reclaim his lead atop the US Open Series Bonus Challenge standings, saw his 4-1 advantage in the third set tie-break evaporate as Becker hit back to win the final six points. The 47th-ranked German fired his 27th ace to set up two match points at 6-4, and capitalised on his first opportunity to clinch the victory in two hours and nine minutes. Becker is making just his fifth hard-court appearance on the ATP World Tour this season (3-4 record), but put together strong results on the Challenger circuit with four consecutive hard-court titles beginning in April at Baton Rouge. He followed by winning his first tour-level title as a qualifier at the grass-court tournament in ‘s-Hertogenbosch. Becker had foiled another highly anticipated encounter between American players three years ago at the US Open, famously defeating Andre Agassi in the legend’s final professional match before losing to Roddick in the next round. He has an 0-2 record against three-time Washington champion Roddick. German Rainer Schuettler joined his countryman as a first-round winner Tuesday, also prevailing in a third-set tie-break over last week’s Los Angeles semi-finalist Leonardo Mayer 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(5). In other first round matches, former World No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero defeated Ecuadorian lucky loser Nicolas Lapentti 6-4, 6-7(5), 6-0 and French qualifier Sebastien De Chaunac ousted Uzbekistani Denis Istomin 6-3, 7-6(7). Indian qualifier Somdev Devvarman posted the week’s first upset of a seeded player, accounting for No. 6 Marin Cilic 6-4, 5-3 in one hour and 42 minutes. Cilic had been responsible for ending Devvarman’s dream run in January at Chennai, where the 24 year old had reached his first tour-level final win with wins over Carlos Moya and Ivo Karlovic. Devvarman played collegiate tennis at the University of Virginia from 2005-08 and won back-to-back NCAA singles titles the last two years.
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