The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Golovin in final

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Monday, Apr 09, 2007
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Golovin in final

Amelia Island (Florida): France's Tatiana Golovin moved a step closer to her first WTA Tour singles title, beating Ana Ivanovic 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in cold and windy conditions on Saturday in the Bausch & Lomb semifinals.

The eighth-seeded Golovin, 0-3 in WTA Tour finals, will face top-seeded Nadia Petrova, a 7-6(4), 6-1 winner over Sybille Bammer.

"The conditions were very, very tough to handle. It was windy and it was really cold out there," Golovin said. "I was proud of myself because I was able to keep at it. We both could have played better."

It was the French teen's first win over the sixth-seeded Ivanovic in six tries, but the outcome could have easily been a sixth consecutive loss.

The two 19-year-old players battled on serve into the 10th game of the first set, when at 30-30, Ivanovic made a pair of unforced errors to hand Golovin the first set.

Ivanovic won the second set to even the match, and had numerous chances to gain the upper hand in the third set.

She had at least one breakpoint opportunity in each of Golovin's first four service games in the third set, including eight chances in the first three games. But she was only able to convert on the eighth chance, to shave Golovin's lead to 4-2.

Petrova jumped ahead 4-1 in the first set, but Bammer broke Petrova and forged into a 4-4 tie. Petrova won the tiebreaker 7-4.

The second set proved to be little more than a formality. Petrova won six of the seven games in just 30 minutes to earn her third consecutive berth in the finals.

"I didn't feel so fresh-minded after that long match the night before," Petrova said. "Physically, I felt OK but I didn't have that sharpness in my head.

"I was glad I was able to win in two sets today so I can go home and get to sleep at my normal time." — AP

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