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News & Press
Monday, April 12, 2010
Pennetta beats Suarez Navarro in final
MARBELLA, Spain -- Second-seeded Flavia Pennetta has beaten Carla Suarez Navarro 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 to win the Andalucia Open.
The 16th-ranked Italian player served up six aces and broke her Spanish opponent seven times on the outdoor clay to take her first title of the season in just over two hours Sunday.
Suarez Navarro took advantage of Pennetta's six double-faults to score four breaks of her own, but the eighth-seeded player failed to win the final for the second straight year.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Lindstedt-Tecau Clinch Casablanca Title
Third seeds Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau captured their first ATP World Tour doubles title together at the Grand Prix Hassan II on Saturday as they defeated Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi 6-2, 3-6, 10-7 in the final of the ATP World Tour 250 clay-court tennis tournament in Casablanca.
The Swedish-Romanian duo, playing in just their second tournament together, only dropped one set throughout the week and collected 250 ATP World Tour ranking points and €21,650 in prize money.
After securing the first set with two service breaks, Lindstedt and Tecau were made to pay for squandering four break points in the second set as their opponents struck back to level the match. The third seeds recovered to win the Match Tie-break, though, and sealed victory after 81 minutes.
"This was a hell of a match today against Rohan and Aisam,” said Tecau. “They played very well and it feels great to win my second title here playing with Robert only for the second time.”
The 33-year-old Lindstedt won his first ATP World Tour title of the season, having finished runner-up at the Open 13 with Julian Knowle, and improved to a 7-7 record in finals. The 25-year-old Tecau clinched his second ATP World Tour title, adding to the trophy he lifted at the Heineken Open in Auckland with Marcus Daniell in January.
"This was my first time here in Casablanca and I'm very impressed with the organisation,” said Lindstedt. “Everything is very well run and they are doing a great job here. Also we played in front of impressive crowds, which makes it much more fun.”
Indian Bopanna and Qureshi of Pakistan were bidding for their second ATP World Tour title from four finals together.
Monday, April 05, 2010
Unseeded Dulko, Pennetta take women's doubles title
When Gisela Dulko and doubles partner Flavia Pennetta saw the draw for the Sony Ericsson Open, their hearts sank.
Veterans Svetlana Kuznetsova and Alicia Molik in the first round, followed by a potential second-round match against No. 2 seeds Nuria Llagostera Vives and Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez. Then, if they got past that, No. 4 seeds Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs loomed.
But the unseeded Dulko and Pennetta said they played better round by round, and Sunday they surprised themselves in the final with a 6-3, 4-6 (10-7 super tiebreak) win over No. 3 seeds Nadia Petrova and Samantha Stosur.
``This is our first big title together,'' said Dulko, who before this year had advanced to the second round here only three times in eight visits. ``We won a few titles before, but this is the most important. It feels great. We enjoyed the week a lot.''
Dulko, of Argentina, and Pennetta, of Italy, are close friends. When they weren't playing, they were at the beach together, shopping together and eating almost all of their meals together.
``We were like sisters here,'' Pennetta said.
Petrova and Stosur seemed to have momentum on their side after winning the second set, but the super-tiebreak format allows both teams to start anew, and that worked in Dulko and Pennetta's favor.
``With the super tiebreak, anything can happen,'' Pennetta said. ``You always have to be ready to come back, because it is never finished. You can lose four or five games and still be in the match.''
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