Chakvetadze shocks Sania to retain WTA Tour title
Tuesday, 31 July 2007
STANFORD, Jul 30 (AFP): Top-seeded Russian Anna Chakvetadze cruised past India's Sania Mirza 6-3, 6-2 here Sunday to capture her second WTA Tour title in as many weeks.
Chakvetadze had earned a three-set victory against Mirza in the semi-finals en route to the title at Cincinnati last week, and Mirza was unable to improve on that result in this 600,000-dollar hardcourt tournament.
Chakvetadze, ranked eighth in the world, claimed her sixth career title and fourth title of the season, after triumphs at Cincinnati, Hobart and 's-Hertogenbosch.
Prior to Cincinnati, she won one of her two singles matches to help Russia top the United States in the semi-finals of the Fed Cup in Vermont.
"I have to play only on hard courts in the United States," she said. "I still had some troubles in the first set with my serve. After this kind of thing I concentrated more on every point."
Mirza, playing in her first Tier II final, had upset three seeded opponents en route to the final, ousting No. 4 Patty Schnyder, No. 6 Tatiana Golovin and No. 8 Sybille Bammer.
Her wins over Golovin and Schnyder were her first over top-20 opponents in a 2007 season that has been disrupted by a knee injury that required surgery in March and sidelined her for more than two months.
Chakvetadze had earned a three-set victory against Mirza in the semi-finals en route to the title at Cincinnati last week, and Mirza was unable to improve on that result in this 600,000-dollar hardcourt tournament.
Chakvetadze, ranked eighth in the world, claimed her sixth career title and fourth title of the season, after triumphs at Cincinnati, Hobart and 's-Hertogenbosch.
Prior to Cincinnati, she won one of her two singles matches to help Russia top the United States in the semi-finals of the Fed Cup in Vermont.
"I have to play only on hard courts in the United States," she said. "I still had some troubles in the first set with my serve. After this kind of thing I concentrated more on every point."
Mirza, playing in her first Tier II final, had upset three seeded opponents en route to the final, ousting No. 4 Patty Schnyder, No. 6 Tatiana Golovin and No. 8 Sybille Bammer.
Her wins over Golovin and Schnyder were her first over top-20 opponents in a 2007 season that has been disrupted by a knee injury that required surgery in March and sidelined her for more than two months.