WTA: June 7-13 2004 DFS Classic Tier III Edgbaston Priory Club, Birmingham, GBR $170,000 - outdoor: grass - 56 players live scores draws, .pdf results Birmingham:     forecast     UK Radar     map s1 # 8 Nadia Petrova s2 # 17 Patty Schnyder s3 # 20 Maria Sharapova s4 # 22 Magdalena Maleeva

Tourney pages: Birmingham: 2006 - 2005 - 2003 previous other tourney pages next Saturday: #65 Tatiana Golovin 5'9", 132 lbs, RH, 2H-BH Sunday: #20 Maria Sharapova 6' 0", 130 lbs, RH, 2H-BH

    World Teen Tennis: In the Final on Sunday in Birmingham, 17-year-old # 20 Maria Sharapova of Russia defeated 16-year-old # 65 Tatiana Golovin of France 4-6, 6-2, 6-1 (Tatiana is shown in her SF on Saturday; Maria is shown holding the hardware after the match on Sunday). Maria, who reached the quarterfinals at Roland Garros a week and a half ago, thus firmed up her credentials as a real contender for Wimbledon. Tatiana, who was hoping to make the top 100 this year, moved up to # 50 with her points from this tourney.

    Maria is actually ranked # 15 this week, the highest rank of her career, after she reached the QFs of the French Open. But tourney draws are based on the previous week's ranks, and those ranks are usually used on this page (and the tourney pages) to match the drawsheets.

    Maria, along with another pretty teenage Russian Maria who is playing very well recently, Maria Kirilenko, also won the doubles final on Sunday, defeating Lisa McShea & Milagros Sequera 6-2, 6-1.

    Old Pro Maria and upstart youngster Tatiana are the 3rd youngest pair ever to reach a women's single final in the "Open Era". Both attended Nick Bollettieri's IMG Academy in Bradenton, Florida while "juniors". Tatiana said: "When we were little we used to talk together about being the best when we were training at Nick’s. I used to always lose our matches 6-0, 6-0, but we will see what happens tomorrow."

The 2 youngest finals:
    1991 San Diego: Monica Seles (17 years & 8 months) defeated Jennifer Capriati (15 years & 4 months) 6-4, 1-6, 6-7
    *1980 Tampa: Tracy Austin (17 years & 11 months) and Andrea Jaeger (15 years & 5 months) *Andrea won by a walkover

    17-year-&-1-month-old Maria Sharapova has now won 3 WTA singles titles in 3 finals (the other 2 were last year in Tokyo, at the AIG Japan Open, and Quebec City, where her Final opponent, Milagros Sequera, unfortunately broke an ankle). Maria wears Nike and swings Prince bat. Born in Nyagan, in the Siberian region of Russia, she started at the Bollettieri Academy in Bradenton, Florida at age 7, and still has a residence near there. Maria spends time in California also, where she is coached by Robert Lansdorp. TV tennis authority Mary Joe Fernandez (who spent about a decade in the WTA top 20) has ranked Maria's serve as the 2nd best amongst the Russians, after Nadia Petrova. Maria yelps a lot when she hits the ball, and has evolved from sticking out her tongue, to gritting her teeth, to biting her lip while she hits it, usually hitting it very well regardless. The website MariaWorld has oodles of photos of Maria. 2003 interview of Maria

    16-year-&-4-months-old Tatiana Golovin was born in Russia, but her folks moved to Paris when she was just a kid. This was her first WTA singles final, but a week ago at Roland Garros she won the mixed doubles title. Tatiana chops with a relatively rare Volkl axe, while wearing Lacoste togs with adidas shoes. She has said that she doesn't mind if people call her the "French Kournikova". A website called Tatiana's Lair can tell you more about Tatiana.

    Tennis Gremlins, or whatever, continue to plague former # 4 & # 5 Jelena Dokic of Serbia-Montenegro and Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia. Currently # 23 Jelena became very upset and broke her racket on Wednesday after double faulting on break point in the 3rd game of the 2nd set against qualifier # 110 Shenay Perry of the US. Shenay went on to defeat Jelena 6-4, 7-6(4).
    Currently # 50 Daniela was suffering from upper respiriatory illness on Wednesday, which caused her to retire from her match against # 65 Tatiana Golovin of France, who was leading the ill Daniela 6-0, 3-1. Hopefully Jelena and Daniela will both be playing as well as they are capable again soon.

Birmingham:
    Birmingham is the tourney that may have the lowest total prize $ to # of players ratio of the WTA Tour. The 56 players in the main draw (and 24 more who lost in qualifying) are there to get some time in playing on grass to prepare for Wimbledon, more than for the $170,000 prize money. Next week at Eastbourne, the last week before Wimbledon, there will be about half as many players, and over 3 times as much prize money.
    The main draw for Birmingham had 16 seeds, with 8 1st-round byes. There were 8 qualifiers and 3 wild cards in the main draw. Qualifying finals were on Sunday.
    Birmingham (daylight savings) time is GMT (UCT, ZULU) + 1 hour (US Pacific Daylight Time +8, EDT +5). Early round play begins at 10am local time, SFs Saturday at 1pm, and the Final at 2pm on Sunday June 13th.
    Last Year: At Birmingham in the 2003 final 3rd-seeded # 13 Magdalena Maleeva of Bulgaria defeated # 103 Shinobu Asagoe of Japan 6-1, 6-4.

WTA SCOREBOARD: Birmingham s=seed, #=rank, *=upset, LL=lucky loser ranks are for the previous week How do players get into the "draw"? Daniela Hantuchova practicing in Birmingham on Sunday, June 6th

Birmingham, 1st Round, Mon-Tues loser's prize: $520 US; points: 1 #33 s9 Emilie Loit FRA d #224 wc Jane O'Donoghue GBR 6-4, 7-5 *#90 Virginia Ruano Pascual ESP d #34 s10 Maria Vento-Kabchi VEN 6-2, 6-3 Tues *#154 q Kelly McCain USA d #37 s11 Tina Pisnik SLO 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 *#338 Anne Kremer LUX d #40 s12 Magui Serna ESP 6-2, 6-2 *#61 Jill Craybas USA d #41 s13 Claudine Schaul LUX 7-6(2), 5-7, 6-1Tues *#82 q Milagros Sequera VEN d #42 s14 Lina Krasnoroutskaya RUS 3-6, 6-3, 6-0 *#65 Tatiana Golovin FRA d #43 s15 Elena Likhovtseva RUS 6-3, 2-0 retired-- viral illness Tues #47 s16 Maria Sanchez Lorenzo ESP d #84 Els Callens BEL 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 Tues #48 Saori Obata JPN d #74 Maria Elena Camerin ITA 6-1, 2-6, 6-3 #49 Anca Barna GER d #206 Ana Ivanovic SCG 6-4, 6-4 #50 Daniela Hantuchova SVK d #192 Yoon Jeong Cho KOR 6-3, 6-1 Tues #52 Shinobu Asagoe JPN d #71 Julia Vakulenko UKR 6-2, 6-4 #53 Jelena Jankovic SCG d #103 q Tatiana Perebiynis UKR 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 #55 Tamarine Tanasugarn THA d #76 q Alina Jidkova RUS 1-6, 7-6(2), 6-2 *#66 Arantxa Parra Santonja ESP d #56 Katarina Srebotnik SLO 6-3, 6-3 *#96 Marie-Gayanay Mikaelian SUI d #58 Jie Zheng CHN 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 #60 Flavia Pennetta ITA d #72 Marion Bartoli FRA 1-1 retired-- left hip injury     A very sad incident occurred on Monday when Marion Bartoli slipped on the grass during her match against Flavia Pennetta, and seriously injured her left hip. Marion had to be taken to the hospital in great pain, and it was thought that her hip may be broken.     [Fortunately, Marion's hip was not broken, and she recovered in time to play at Wimbledon, winning her 1st and 2nd round matches.] #62 Akiko Morigami JPN d #77 Melinda Czink HUN 6-1, 6-3 Tues *#174 wc Anne Keothavong GBR d #63 Marta Marrero ESP 6-1, 5-7, 7-6(4) Anne Keothavong     Anne said: It’s great to finally get it out of the way. I’ve played really well in Challengers [ITF tourneys] and even qualified for some WTA Tournaments, but it’s great to finally get a win here... It was a long match so I’m relieved to get through. It was a great win for me as [Marta] is ranked so much higher, so it’s a big confidence boost for Wimbledon. I think the key was that I was able to prepare better on grass by playing last week in Surbiton. It certainly paid off for me. *#110 q Shenay Perry USA d #68 Barbora Strycova CZE 6-3, 6-3 #73 Cara Black ZIM d #83 Rita Grande ITA 6(6)-7, 6-2, 7-6(4) Tues *#217 Jamea Jackson USA d #78 Mara Santangelo ITA 6-4, 6-2 #98 q Samantha Stosur AUS d #332 wc Elena Baltacha GBR 6-3, 6-2 *#113 q Roberta Vinci ITA d #100 q Maria Kirilenko RUS 6-4, 6-3 Tues

Birmingham, 2nd Round, Tues-Weds story loser's prize: $1,000 US; points: 9 *#52 Shinobu Asagoe JPN d #8 s1 Nadia Petrova RUS 6-4, 2-6, 6-4 Weds Nadia Petrova #17 s2 Patty Schnyder SUI d #66 A Parra Santonja ESP 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 #20 s3 Maria Sharapova RUS d #217 Jamea Jackson USA 6-2, 6-2 Maria Sharapova #22 s4 Magdalena Maleeva BUL d #49 Anca Barna GER 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 Weds Magdalena Maleeva     Although she won, Maggie was not pleased with her performance. Maggie said: "I just kept going mentally and tried not to lose patience. But I don't think I ever played very well." *#110 q Shenay Perry USA d #23 s5 Jelena Dokic SCG 6-4, 7-6(4) Weds     Jelena said: "I was annoyed because I had a chance to win. It's more annoying to have a chance to win and losing rather than just getting beaten... At times I can play well but my game is up and down at the moment. I've not played well this year and my confidence is very low."     Shenay said: "It's the biggest win of my career, so I hope to move on to bigger things." *#113 q Roberta Vinci ITA d #26 s6 Nathalie Dechy FRA 6-0 4-6 7-6(5) Weds *#62 Akiko Morigami JPN d #27 s7 Eleni Daniilidou GRE 2-6, 6-2, 2-0 retired-- right achilles strain Weds #32 s8 Alicia Molik AUS d #60 Flavia Pennetta ITA 7-6(3), 6-4 #33 s9 Emilie Loit FRA d #73 Cara Black ZIM 6-1, 6-7(2), 6-3 Weds #47 s16 Maria Sanchez Lorenzo ESP d #174 wc A Keothavong GBR 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 Weds #48 Saori Obata JPN d #154 q Kelly McCain USA 7-5, 7-5 Weds *#65 Tatiana Golovin FRA d #50 Daniela Hantuchova SVK 6-0, 3-1 retired-- upper respiratory illness Weds #53 Jelena Jankovic SCG d #90 Virginia Ruano Pascual ESP 6-1, 6-0 Weds #55 Tamarine Tanasugarn THA d #61 Jill Craybas USA 6-1, 7-5 Weds *#98 q Samantha Stosur AUS d #82 q Milagros Sequera VEN 0-6, 6-4, 7-6(5)Weds *#338 Anne Kremer LUX d #96 M-G Mikaelian SUI 6-4, 5-0 retired-- right shoulder strain

Birmingham, 3rd Round, Thurs loser's prize: $1,900 US; points: 16 #17 s2 Patty Schnyder SUI d #47 s16 Maria Sanchez Lorenzo ESP 6-4, 6-3 #20 s3 Maria Sharapova RUS d #98 q Samantha Stosur AUS 6-4, 6-3 *#55 Tamarine Tanasugarn THA d #22 s4 Magdalena Maleeva BUL 0-6, 6-4, 6-2     Tammy said: "I wasn't aggressive in the first set and I started to realise I had to make [Maggie] do something." story     Maggie said: "The first set was just about perfect but [Tammy is] a very good player on grass. It's not a setback for me. I felt much better and my timing is a bit better. I have another 10 days to practice on grass before Wimbledon."     Maggie also commented on the withdrawal of # 1 Justine Henin-Hardenne and # 2 Kim Clijsters from Wimbledon. Maggie said: "It's terrible that they're not playing. I'm not surprised it's happening because we play too much. I think it's their bodies needing a break. I think things have to change. No other sport plays 11 months a year. We should have three months off - say October, November and December. It's tough both mentally and physically to play without a break. I have been trying to persuade them to change but it's been this way for such a long time that it's going to be difficult. I am sure it will change because it has to - but I won't be playing then." Maggie is 29, approaching the typical age for WTA retirement. story #32 s8 Alicia Molik AUS d #53 Jelena Jankovic SCG 6-3, 6-2 #33 s9 Emilie Loit FRA d #62 Akiko Morigami JPN 6-4, 7-6(4) #48 Saori Obata JPN d #110 q Shenay Perry USA 7-6(3), 6-1 *#65 Tatiana Golovin FRA d #52 Shinobu Asagoe JPN 6-4, 6-0 *#338 Anne Kremer LUX d #113 q Roberta Vinci ITA 6-2, 1-6, 7-6(3)

Birmingham, QFs, Fri loser's prize: $3,700 US; points: 30 #17 s2 Patty Schnyder SUI d #48 Saori Obata JPN 6-3, 6-4 Patty Schnyder #20 s3 Maria Sharapova RUS d #32 s8 Alicia Molik AUS 6-3, 6-1 Maria Sharapova     Maria said: "Today was one of my best matches this year. The return of serve was the key as [Alicia's] serve is so powerful, so I’m glad I managed to play so well in her service games. I’ve learned so much since I broke through here last year and now have so much experience that it helps in matches like today as I know how to play the big points better." story #33 s9 Emilie Loit FRA d #55 Tamarine Tanasugarn THA 6-2, 6-4 #65 Tatiana Golovin FRA d #338 Anne Kremer LUX 6-4, 7-5 Tatiana Golovin in Paris on May 31st     Tatiana said: "I can’t believe I have reached the semi-finals at my first ever senior grass court event. My goal for this year was to reach the top 100, so I am shocked to be so high so quickly. It’s great though as I think this means that I will be able to qualify for the Olympics now."

Birmingham, SFs, Sat loser's prize: $7,200 US; points: 55 *#20 s3 Maria Sharapova RUS d #17 s2 Patty Schnyder SUI 6-1, 6(3)-7, 6-3 Maria Sharapova     Maria was up 6-5 in the 2nd set when Patty began playing more aggressively, forcing and winning the tiebreak. Maria said: "I don’t think I did anything wrong. [Patty] just raised her game and hit some unbelievable shots. I really should have been ready for it, but I wasn’t... it was very difficult so I am very lucky to be in the final. I should have pulled it out in the second set, so I was lucky to get through in the third. She made it tough. I’m really pleased to be in the final. I fought hard out there so I guess it paid off." story *#65 Tatiana Golovin FRA d #33 s9 Emilie Loit FRA 6-3, 5-7, 7-5 Tatiana Golovin     Emilie was displeased due to several questionable line calls, and because Tatiana was granted a non-regulation bathroom break when trailing Emilie 0-2 in the 2nd set. Emilie said: "It’s not fair. Why can she take a break, not during the changeover, but when we are playing the game? She said it was an emergency, but I really don’t know."     Tatiana said: "I’m excited to be in the final tomorrow. It was so tough out there, but a very good match. It’s hard to play someone you know as we have practiced and played Fed Cup together." story

Birmingham, Final, Sun 2pm loser's prize: $14,000 US; points: 85 winner's prize: $27,000 US; points: 120 #20 s3 Maria Sharapova RUS d #65 Tatiana Golovin FRA 4-6, 6-2, 6-1

Birmingham, Doubles Final, Sun loser's prize: $4,100 winner's prize: $8,000 *d244 Maria Kirilenko & Maria Sharapova d d108 Lisa McShea & Milagros Sequera 6-2, 6-1 Birmingham, Qualifying Finals, Sun Jun 6 #76 Alina Jidkova RUS d #151 Abigail Spears USA 7-6(3), 6-3 #82 Milagros Sequera VEN d #142 Antonella Serra Zanetti ITA 7-6(2) 6(1)-7 6-2 *#110 Shenay Perry USA d #87 Stephanie Cohen-Aloro FRA 7-5, 6-0 *#113 Roberta Vinci ITA d #89 Severine Beltrame FRA 7-6(6), 6-3 #98 Samantha Stosur AUS d #114 Sofia Arvidsson SWE 6-1, 4-6, 7-5 #100 Maria Kirilenko RUS d #127 Adriana Serra Zanetti ITA 6-4, 6-3 *#154 Kelly McCain USA d #101 Mervana Jugic-Salkic BIH 6-2, 7-6(3) #103 Tatiana Perebiynis UKR d #116 Yulia Beygelzimer 6-3 6-4

See also: QuickShop: Sporting Goods
WTA PhotoRankings - Martina Hingis - Anna Kournikova - Tennis Articles - 2004 WTA Schedule and Links

Current WTA Results & Tennis News

You can link to many Real Video postmatch interviews of WTA players at the 2004 WTA Player Interviews page.

WTA PhotoRankings:
the current top 20 Women's Tennis rankings with player photos, links, and bio info.