The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Shvedova wins her maiden title

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Monday, Feb 19, 2007
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Shvedova wins her maiden title

Nandita Sridhar

THAT WINNING FEELING: This was not a bad result for Yaroslava Shvedova, who actually made the draw as a replacement for Iroda Tulyaganova. — Photo: K. Bhagya Prakash

Bangalore: Yaroslava Shvedova walked in spring-footed and in the mood for murder. For someone who comes from a tiny everyone-knows-everyone Russian town, and whose father had to learn the game himself before teaching her, a WTA final is huge. It helped that Mara Santangelo walked in flappable, inconsistent, and half the player she was in her earlier matches. The Russian hit the defending champion out of the final, winning 6-4, 6-4, in the final of the Sony Ericsson International WTA tennis event, at the KSLTA Stadium, on Sunday.

The 19-year-old Russian bludgeoned in her serves as she had done throughout the tournament. She hit the ball deep towards Santangelo, who positioned herself well within the baseline for most parts of the match.

Percentage tennis

Shvedova's shots landed primarily in risk-free spots, except in the latter part of the second set, when both players took their chances. The Italian was strangely animated, irritated with the line calls that went against her and the noise from the crowds that distracted her.

After she was broken in the first game of the second set, Santangelo held serve with ease, except in the ninth game when Shvedova squandered three match points. Santangelo held her nerve for a brilliant volley to save one, and there were signs of a choker in the making.

Letting slip one more on her own serve, Shvedova converted her fifth and went down on her knees, celebrating the greatest week yet of her career.

The Russian was roped in after Iroda Tulyaganova of Uzbekistan pulled out.

"I'm still shaking. I can't describe how I'm feeling," said the 19-year-old from Chernogolovka.

"I just played," she said, trying to find the right words that would do justice to what she felt. "I didn't worry about anything. This was my first final and lots of people were supporting me," she said.

Super tie-breaks are not for the luckless. Almost like penalty shootouts in football, the excitement is there, but whether it's the best ways to decide WTA final winners is always debatable. On Sunday, Chia Jung Chuan and Yung-Jan Chan won a thrilling super tie-break in a close doubles final, beating Su-Wei Hsieh and Alla Kudryavtseva 6-7(4), 6-2, 11-9.

The only one-sided period of play in the final was in the second set, with Kudryavtseva and Hsieh broken in the fifth and the seventh games of the second set, after an exchange of breaks in the third and fourth games.

The Chinese Taipei pair had three match-points when they were up 9-6 in the super tie-break. Hsieh and Kudryavtseva made it 9-9. They couldn't win a point thereafter, and eventually went down in the one hour and 44 minute final.

The results: Singles: Yaroslava Shvedova (Rus) bt Mara Santangelo (Ita) 6-4, 6-4. Doubles: Chia Jung Chuan & Yung-Jan Chan (Tpe) bt Su-Wei Hsieh (Tpe) & Alla Kudryavtseva (Rus) 6-7(4), 6-2, 11-9

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