WTA Nov 5-10 Tourney pages: WTA Championships: 2005 - 2004 previous other tourney pages next WTA Championships Los Angeles, CA Tier I $3,000,000 8 players indoor: hard draws & schedule .pdf LA Weather

#2 Kim Clijsters: 5' 8½", 150 lbs, RH, 2H-BH

    In Monday night's WTA Championship Final, current # 1 Kim Clijsters of Belgium got down to business and crushed # 6 Amelie Mauresmo of France 6-2, 6-0 (photos shown). Amelie broke Kim's serve only once, in the 1st game of the match. Kim broke back immediately, and Amelie held her serve only once after that. Kim became # 2 when the final rankings for the 2003 season came out on Tuesday, and she will keep that rank until next year, but winning her 2nd straight WTA Championship and a $1,000,030 prize is some consolation (the extra $30 represents the WTA's 30th anniversary).

    Kim said: "From the start until the end I was very focused. I played my best tennis of the week... You want to focus on yourself and not let her back in the match. I saw the ball like a football, I was seeing it really well. It's nice to know you can do whatever you want with the ball." story: Reuters -- AP

    Kim now leads Amelie 6-2 in career matches, and has won the last 5 straight, the last 3 fairly easily.

    20-year-old Kim is now 19-13 in WTA singles finals; she has won 9 this year. Kim resides in Bree, Belgium, wears Fila and swings a Babolat "Pure Drive." Kim is coached by Marc Dehous, her boyfriend is ATP former # 1 Lleyton Hewitt.

    24-year-old Amelie is now 10-10 in WTA singles finals; she has won 2 this year. Amelie lives in Geneva, Switzerland, wears Nike and hits the ball with a Dunlop "300G." She is coached by French Fed Cup coach Loic Courteau. Amelie is one of the few WTA players not particularly interested in the male gender. In 1999, then 18-year-old WTA # 1 Martina Hingis referred to Amelie jokingly as "half a man," and this caused a ruckus when the press got a hold of it, much to the dismay of WTA officials. But it is all forgotten now, and no one is likely to mention it.

    Although 3 players in the Red Group tied at 1-2, Amelie Mauresmo qualified for the SFs having a better total set record (4-4) in the round robin than Chanda Rubin (3-5) or Elena Dementieva (2-5).

    The WTA Championships determined who will end the year at # 1: Justine Henin-Hardenne, with 6628 points. Kim Clijsters (finishing # 2 with 6553 points) won the Championships in 2002, and earned bonus points by defeating Justine in the QFs, then # 2 Venus Williams in the SFs, and then # 1 Serena Williams in the Final. Points that are 52 weeks old are dropped, Kim had to win the tourney to replace the points she won last year (and couldn't possibly replace all the bonus points: she lost 43 points). Justine only needed to reach the SFs to increase her point total.

  WTA Nov 3-9: Pattaya

Volvo Women's Open, Pattaya, THA website in Thai, English info & photos here Tier V $110,000 - 32 players - outdoor: hard draws & schedule .pdf -- Pattaya Weather s1 # 34 Tamarine Tanasugarn, s2 # 52 Saori Obata s4 # 54 Anca Barna, s5 # 65 Ludmila Cervanova     In the Pattaya Final on Sunday, 25-year-old # 119 Henrieta Nagyova of Slovakia defeated her 20-year-old compatriot # 101 Lubomira Kurhajcova 6-4, 6-2. Henrieta is now 9-5 in WTA singles finals; she has been ranked as high as # 21 in 2001. Lubomira was playing in her 1st WTA singles final, she has won 4 ITF events.     Anna Kournikova, although sidelined from the daily grind of the WTA Tour by a chronic low back injury, is able to play the occasional match. So after the women's singles final in Pattaya on Sunday, Nov. 9, Anna played local hero # 33 Tamarine Tanasugarn of Thailand in a friendly exhibition match, limited to 2 sets, which Anna won by a whisker, 2-6, 6-4 (10-6 tiebreak). Anna also took part in other promotional activities in while in Pattaya.

#119 Henrieta Nagyova 5' 9¾", 132 lbs, RH, 2H-BH #302 Anna Kournikova 5' 8¼", 123 lbs, RH, 2H-BH

    After the match, Anna made a strong statement to reporters that she has NO intention of retiring from pro tennis; she wants to get healthy and play again. You can see what Anna had to say at kournikova.quickfound.net.

    The main draw for Pattaya had 8 seeds, with NO 1st-round byes. There were 4 qualifiers, 2 wild cards, and 5 Lucky Losers in the main draw.
    Early round play in Pattaya began at 2pm local time (that is 0700 the same day GMT, UCT, ZULU, 2am the same day ET, or 11:00pm the previous day PT).

WTA SCOREBOARD: WTA Championships & Pattaya s=seed, #=rank, *=upset, LL=lucky loser ranks are for the previous week How do players get into the "draw"? From the WTA Championship's WTA Photo Gallery: photo links may not function; in Jan 2004 the WTA discarded their original photo gallery Serena Williams Jennifer Capriati Venus Williams Kim Clijsters Anastasia Myskina Elena, Anastasia, & Kim backstage at the Monday night fashion show Elena Dementieva A few extra bucks: Paola Suarez & Virginia Ruano Pascual each earned over $600,000 for playing doubles in 2003 WTA # 1s: Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Tracy Austin, Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport, Jennifer Capriati, Justine Henin-Hardenne & Kim Clijsters

WTA Championships, LA, round robin, Weds: #1 Kim Clijsters BEL d #9 Elena Dementieva RUS 6-2, 6-2     Kim said: "I was really consistent. I didn't have a moment where I was down, where I was giving her easy mistakes." story #5 Jennifer Capriati USA d #11 Ai Sugiyama JPN 7-5, 7-6(3)     Jennifer won despite a strained right hip flexor, which she had to have taped when leading 2-1 in the 2nd set. Jennifer said: "This morning in practice I sort of felt something already, but I haven't been playing indoors and just not playing a lot of matches... I served really well when I had to and it definitely saved me in the match." *#10 Chanda Rubin USA 6pm d #6 Amelie Mauresmo FRA 4-6, 6-4, 6-2     Chanda said: "I tried to force the play and be aggressive. After being down a set and a break, I felt like I had new life."     Amelie said: "She was playing better and better as the match went on. She puts a lot of speed on the ball and she can also come in. Sometimes I was too far from the baseline to take control of the points." WTA Championships, LA, round robin, Thurs: #1 Kim Clijsters BEL d #10 Chanda Rubin USA 6-4, 6-4     Clijsters led 5-2 in the 1st set before Chanda, who has never defeated Kim, really got into the match. Kim said: "[Chanda] started to make more returns and be a lot more aggressive. I was playing a little too defensive. When I had to do it, I did. She made me work for it." story #2 Justine Henin-Hardenne BEL d #8 Anastasia Myskina RUS 7-5, 5-7, 7-5     Justine said: "I was having trouble breathing because of the cold I’ve had. I tried to relax and that helped me come back in the first set... I was a little bit afraid at the end of the third set, but I hung in there. I had to deal with a lot of pressure and I’m happy with that. It was an important victory." #6 Amelie Mauresmo FRA d #9 Elena Dementieva RUS 6-3, 6-2     Amelie said:"I was taking it in a looser way [than in the loss to Chanda Rubin on Wednesday], I was feeling no pressure. I felt better with my serve." WTA Championships, LA, round robin, Fri: #1 Kim Clijsters BEL d #6 Amelie Mauresmo FRA 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 #2 Justine Henin-Hardenne BEL d #5 Jennifer Capriati USA 6-2, 6-1     Justine said: "I knew before the match that if I won I was going to be qualified for the semis and No. 1 in the world. It gave me so much determination. I was coming on the court so focused." story     About Justine taking the top ranking, Kim Clijsters said: "She’s played really well and she definitely deserves it."     Justine has been troubled by a respiratory infection. Justine said: "I’m still not 100 percent. But when you’re playing more relaxed it helps you. There weren’t too many rallies. Yesterday [def. Anasatasia Myskina 7-5, 5-7, 7-5] I had to run all over the court and I was very nervous so it wasn’t easy to breathe, but today I was calm and I wasn’t afraid."     Jennifer was troubled by a strained right hip flexor muscle. Jennifer said: "I just didn’t really feel I could go all out. That, in combination with her playing well, it’s a tough combination." #8 Anastasia Myskina RUS d #11 Ai Sugiyama JPN 6-4, 6-3     Anastasia had been very upset Thursday night after her loss to Justine Henin-Hardenne. Anastasia led 5-0 in the 1st set before losing 7 straight games. Anastasia said: "I didn't sleep well. I closed my eyes and I was still playing tennis. I was so mad and upset, I was crying for a couple of hours. I was thinking how stupid I can be to lose a set after being up 5-0. I was thinking I have to fight because I still have a chance to be in the semifinals. I could've lost today and gone home. I was really proud of myself that I could win." story     Ai said: "She made mistakes earlier and then she started to focus a little bit more. I couldn't get the rhythm again. It just went so quickly." WTA Championships, LA, round robin, Sat: *#11 Ai Sugiyama JPN d #2 Justine Henin-Hardenne BEL 6-2, 6-4     Justine, who has been ill with a respiratory infection and feeling tired, will still hold the # 1 singles ranking from Tuesday until January. Justine said: "I need some rest. I was feeling a little bit tired. I didn't serve well. It was hard for me to fight and I wasn't focused." story #5 Jennifer Capriati USA d #8 Anastasia Myskina RUS 7-5, 5-7, 6-4     Jennifer has been troubled by a strained hip flexor. Jennifer said: "It felt a little bit better, definitely could move a little better. I wasn't 100 percent, but it was all or nothing today. I had a difficult time pushing off, but I tried to come to the net a lot more and make the points a little shorter. I did everything I could to rally, to make myself feel better... I was aggressive and it paid off. [Anastasia] made a couple of errors and I think she was tight also. But the more I can pull these matches out, the more confidence I'll get."     Anastasia said: "I'm really sad. I just did couple of really stupid mistakes on deciding points. I was feeling a lot of pressure on me, that's why I didn't make it." #9 Elena Dementieva RUS d #10 Chanda Rubin USA 4-6, 7-5, 6-1

WTA Championships, LA, SFs, Sun: non-qualifiers prizes: $100,000/$130,000 loser's prize: $250,000 #1 Kim Clijsters BEL d #5 Jennifer Capriati USA 4-6, 6-3, 6-0 Jennifer was up a break at 3-2 in the 2nd set when she called for a trainer, due to pain from her strained hip flexor which had traveled up her back. Kim broke to even the set at 3-3, and Jennifer did not win another game in the match.     Kim said: "That definitely made me believe more in my chances. In all the matches that I've played [against Jennifer], she never served as well as she did for the first set and a half. When I broke her back, I was definitely feeling I was still in there. Her serve changed straightaway... I still felt like I had to try to keep my unforced errors down. Towards the end, she was making all the mistakes, but I still felt like she was moving and she was running and I still had to work for it." story     Jennifer said: "I broke up my momentum and gave her a little time to sit back and gather herself because she started playing better. I came out and I wasn't quite serving the same anymore. It's frustrating for me because one of the best aspects of my game is my fitness and moving, and when I don't have that 100 percent, mentally it takes a toll. It makes it really hard to fight." *#6 Amelie Mauresmo FRA d #2 Justine Henin-Hardenne BEL 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-3 It was one of the biggest wins of Amelie's career. Amelie said: "The way I finished it off, and the way I handled the loss of the second set against a top player like Justine... one of the best." story     Justine said: "You're always disappointed when you lose, but I have the feeling I gave everything. I wasn't able to win the match. Amelie played a good match. She came a lot to the net, she serves well."

WTA Championships, LA, Final, Mon: loser's prize: $500,000 winner's prize: $1,000,030 #1 Kim Clijsters BEL d #6 Amelie Mauresmo FRA 6-2, 6-0

WTA Championships, Doubles SFs, Sun: Kim Clijsters & Ai Sugiyama d Cara Black & Elena Likhovtseva 6-3, 6-4 Virginia Ruano Pascual & Paola Suarez d Svetlana Kuznetsova & Martina Navratilova 6-4, 6-4 WTA Championships, Doubles Final, Mon: *Virginia Ruano Pascual & Paola Suarez d Kim Clijsters & Ai Sugiyama 6-4, 3-6, 6-3

Tammy Tanasugarn & Anna Kournikova hold "krathongs" during the Loy Krathong festival in Pattaya on Nov 8, 2003

Pattaya, 1st Round, Mon-Weds: #34 s1 Tamarine Tanasugarn THA d #429 q Ilke Gers NZL 3-6, 6-2, 6-0 #52 s2 Saori Obata JPN d #75 Julia Vakulenko UKR 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 #54 s4 Anca Barna GER d #372 LL Sandra Klemenschits AUT 6-2, 7-6(7) *#119 Henrieta Nagyova SVK d s5 #65 Ludmila Cervanova SVK 6-2 7-6(5)     Henrieta said: "It's always tough to play a player from your country because we know each other well." #71 s7 Jelena Kostanic CRO d #244 LL Tina Schiechtl AUT 6-3, 6-2 #74 Angelique Widjaja INA d #286 wc Napaporn Tongsalee THA 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 #88 Sandra Kleinova CZE d #140 Tian Tian Sun CHN 6-0, 7-6(4) #89 Silvija Talaja CRO d #434 q Ryoko Fuda JPN 6-3, 6-1 *#438 q Katarina Bondarenko UKR d #94 Jie Zheng CHN 6-2, 7-5 #101 Lubomira Kurhajcova SVK d #189 Alyona Bondarenko UKR 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-4 #135 Elena Tatarkova UKR d #244 q Marta Domachowska POL 6-3, 4-6, 6-0 *#225 Elise Tamaela NED d #144 Severine Beltrame FRA 7-5, 6-4 #147 Ivana Abramovic CRO d #515 LL Maki Arai JPN 6-3, 6-0 *#167 Anastassia Rodionova RUS d NR Pichittra Thongdach THA 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 *#460 LL Lydia Steinbach GER d #180 Zi Yan CHN 7-5, 6-1 *#216 Yuliana Fedak UKR d #206 wc Wynne Prakusya INA 6-3 6-1

Pattaya, 2nd Round, Weds-Thurs: #34 s1 Tamarine Tanasugarn THA d #88 Sandra Kleinova CZE 6-2, 6-1 #52 s2 Saori Obata JPN d #147 Ivana Abramovic CRO 6-0, 6-3 #54 s4 Anca Barna GER d #225 Elise Tamaela NED 6-4, 7-6(4) #71 s7 Jelena Kostanic CRO d #438 q Katarina Bondarenko UKR 6-1, 6-3 *#101 Lubomira Kurhajcova SVK d #74 Angelique Widjaja INA 7-5, 6-1 *#119 Henrieta Nagyova SVK d #89 Silvija Talaja CRO 6-3, 4-6, 6-1 #135 Elena Tatarkova UKR d #460 LL Lydia Steinbach GER 6-4, 6-2 #167 Anastassia Rodionova RUS d #216 Yuliana Fedak UKR 6-7(5), 7-6(2), 6-3

Pattaya, QFs, Friday: #34 s1 Tamarine Tanasugarn THA d #167 Anastassia Rodionova RUS 6-2, 6-3 *#101 Lubomira Kurhajcova SVK d #52 s2 Saori Obata JPN 6-2, 6-4 #54 s4 Anca Barna GER d #71 s7 Jelena Kostanic CRO 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 #119 Henrieta Nagyova SVK d #135 Elena Tatarkova UKR 3-6, 6-0, 7-5

Pattaya, SFs, Saturday: *#119 Henrieta Nagyova SVK d #34 s1 Tamarine Tanasugarn THA 6-2, 7-5     Tammy said: "She was playing well and handling the pressure well... I wish I could have won the tournament because everybody expected me to win." story *#101 Lubomira Kurhajcova SVK d #54 s4 Anca Barna GER 6-0, 6-0

Pattaya, Final, Sunday: *#119 Henrieta Nagyova SVK d #101 Lubomira Kurhajcova SVK 6-4, 6-2

Pattaya, Doubles Final, Saturday: s3 Ting Li & Tian Tian Sun d s1 Wynne Prakusya & Angelique Widjaja 6-4, 6-3 Pattaya, Exhibition, Sunday: *#302 Anna Kournikova RUS d #34 Tamarine Tanasugarn THA 2-6, 6-4 (10-6 tiebreaker) Pattaya, Qualifying Finals, Monday: #244 Marta Domachowska POL d #515 Maki Arai JPN 6-2, 6-0 *#429 Ilke Gers NZL d #372 Sandra Klemenschits AUT 6-7(5), 6-4, 6-0 #434 Ryoko Fuda JPN d NR Pichittra Thongdach THA 7-5, 6-2 #438 Katerina Bondarenko UKR d #460 Lydia Steinbach GER 6-3, 7-6(6) all qualifying finals losers became Main Draw "lucky losers" Pattaya, Withdrawals: #48 s3 Marlene Weingartner GER #69 Flavia Pennetta ITA #97 Jill Craybas USA #108 Vera Douchevina RUS #130 Iva Majoli ITA

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