WTA: May 17-22 2004 Internationaux de Strasbourg Strasbourg, FRA Tier III website in French, English via Google $170,000 - 30 players - outdoor: red clay draw/results - draws & schedule .pdf order of play - all results photo gallery: Mon - Tues - Wed Strasbourg: map s1 # 4 Lindsay Davenport s2 # 11 Ai Sugiyama s3 # 16 Silvia Farina Elia s4 # 29 Emilie Loit Wien Energie Grand Prix, Vienna, AUT Tier III website in German, English via Google $170,000 - 30 players - outdoor: red clay draws & schedule .pdf - results Vienna: map s1 # 13 Chanda Rubin s2 # 21 A Smashnova-Pistolesi s3 # 30 Lisa Raymond s4 # 36 Maria Vento-Kabchi

Tourney pages: Strasbourg: 2006 - 2005 - 2003 Vienna: 2003 previous other tourney pages next Strasbourg: #63 Claudine Schaul 5'6½", 137 lbs, RH, 2H-BH Strasbourg: #4 Lindsay Davenport 6'2½", 175 lbs, RH, 2H-BH

    In the Strasbourg Final on Saturday, # 63 Claudine Schaul of Luxembourg topped off what was by far the best week of her career by defeating top-seeded # 4 Lindsay Davenport of the US 2-6, 6-0, 6-3 (Claudine is shown in her SF on Friday, Lindsay is shown on Saturday in the only photo from the Final that was yet available). It was Claudine's 5th upset win in a row.

    Claudine said: "It's a dream to win a WTA tournament. I was very nervous at the beginning, but then tried to forget that I was playing the final. My tactics worked well. I tried to attack a lot and to get [Lindsay] moving. She was not playing her best level. I was so emotional at match point that I double faulted several times and lost that game." story

    Lindsay said: "The conditions were tough today, there was a lot of wind. I did not hit the ball like I should have. I made double faults, and when I miss a lot of serves I tend to lose my rhythm... All my congrats to Claudine, definitely was the better player today, and she has a wicked forehand."

    Lindsay and Claudine had never played each other before. Claudine will play former French Open champ # 31 Mary Pierce in the 1st round at Roland Garros on Monday or Tuesday, while Lindsay will face French wild card # 125 Virginie Pichet.

    20-year-old Claudine is now 1-0 in WTA singles finals (she had never been past QFs before). She has also won 1 WTA doubles title, and 4 ITF titles, 2 singles, 2 doubles. Claudine's home is in Luxembourg City, but she was born in Garnich, Luxembourg. Since Luxembourg is about 30 miles across (998 sq. mi.), she probably didn't have too far to move. Claudine chops with a Babolat axe (most use a "Pure Drive" model) and there are few, if any, other women on the tour who wear Asics, in which she looks very nice.

    27-year-old Californian Lindsay has won 40 WTA singles titles in 73 finals (if you include the 1996 Olympic title), including 3 Grand Slam tourneys. Lindsay wears Nike and hits with a Wilson "H Tour" (the same model # 1 Justine Henin-Hardenne is using), with a 95 square inch string area. Earlier this year Lindsay was saying she might retire soon because she hasn't been reaching enough finals; that was just before she won the Tokyo Toray Pan Pacific title for the 4th time.

    In the Vienna Final on Saturday, 27-year-old Minsk, Belarus-born Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi of Israel defeated 23-year-old Adelaide-born Alicia Molik of Australia 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. Anna has now won 9 WTA singles titles. Alicia has one WTA singles title, along with 10 ITF singles titles. Anna and Alicia had played only once before, in Madrid in 2002, where Anna won 7-5, 6-2. Unfortunately, no photos of the later rounds have been available from Vienna, which is, of course, ridiculous.

    Anna said: "When you least expect it, you do your best. I wasn't sure if I would come here because I've played every week for the last couple of months, but I felt like I could play as I had a first round bye and it turned out well for me. I'm nine for nine in Tour finals and I feel pretty good about that. I have a tough first round in Paris and after this week, I feel I am very well prepared for it." story

    Alicia said: "The match was there for the taking. I made a good comeback but I made too many mistakes and [Anna] was just too tough today.  This week has given me confidence and practice in tough matches so it's been a good preparation week for Roland Garros.  I'm happy with the amount of time I was able to spend on the court."

    The websites for this week's tourneys are a big step down from the Tier I tourney websites of the past couple of weeks. Strasbourg, at least, does have a photo gallery, the only source of photos from the early rounds there. Unfortunately, they have just a few oncourt photos, and they do not label the photos, even in French, so the IDs of the players are by eyeball only, and some might be in error.

Strasbourg:
    # 16 Silvia Farina Eila has won the Strasbourg tournament the past 3 years in a row.
    # 313 Sandrine Testud, ranked # 9 in 2000, retired from WTA play a couple of years ago because she was in a family way, but returned to play another year in 2004. Since rankings are based on a player's best 17 tourneys in the past 52 weeks, Sandrine had to start her's over from scratch. Being French, she received a wild card into the main draw for this tourney.
    The main draw for Strasbourg had 8 seeds, with 2 1st-round byes. There were 4 qualifiers and 3 wild cards in the main draw (one of which is Dinara Safina, who must have entered the tourney late, or she would be a direct in by ranking). Qualifying finals were on Monday.
    Strasbourg time is GMT (UCT, ZULU) + 2 hours (US Pacific Daylight Time +9, EDT +6). Early round play begins at 10am local time.

Vienna:
    The main draw for Vienna had 8 seeds, with 2 1st-round byes. There were 4 qualifiers and 3 wild cards in the main draw. Qualifying finals were on Monday.
    Vienna time is GMT (UCT, ZULU) + 2 hours (US Pacific Daylight Time +9, EDT +6). Early round play begins at 10am local time.

WTA SCOREBOARD: Strasbourg & Vienna s=seed, #=rank, *=upset, LL=lucky loser ranks are for the previous week How do players get into the "draw"? Sandrine Testud, Dinara Safina & Ai Sugiyama

Strasbourg, 1st Round, Mon loser's prize: $1,300 US; points: 1 *#93 Severine Beltrame FRA d #38 s7 Maria Sanchez Lorenzo ESP 6-7, 6-4, 6-1 *#49 Laura Granville USA d #43 Kristina Brandi PUR 6-1, 7-6 *#59 Katarina Srebotnik SLO d #46 Saori Obata JPN 6-3, 6-4 *#68 Marion Bartoli FRA d #55 Barbara Schett AUT 6-3, 2-6, 6-4 *#75 Barbora Strycova CZE d #56 Tamarine Tanasugarn THA 6-2, 6(5)-7, 6-3 #61 Akiko Morigami JPN d #273 wc Timea Bacsinszky SUI 7-6(6), 4-6, 6-3 #66 Anabel Medina Garrigues ESP d #89 Marie-Gaianeh Mikaelian SUI 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 Strasbourg, 1st Round, Tues 10am #16 s3 Silvia Farina Elia ITA d #98 q Henrieta Nagyova SVK 6-3, 6-2 Silvia Farina Elia #29 s4 Emilie Loit FRA d #313 wc Sandrine Testud FRA 6-4, 6-7, 6-1 Emilie Loit #32 s5 Tina Pisnik SLO d #119 q Conchita Martinez Granados ESP 6-1, 6-2 *#96 q Milagros Sequera VEN d #33 s6 wc Dinara Safina RUS 2-6, 6-2, 7-5 *#76 Julia Vakulenko UKR d #39 s8 Meghann Shaughnessy USA 6-2, 7-5 #99 q Stephanie Cohen-Aloro FRA d #58 Jill Craybas USA 6-1, 4-6, 6-3 #63 Claudine Schaul LUX d #64 Arantxa Parra Santonja ESP 6-4, 2-6, 6-3

Strasbourg, 2nd Round, Weds loser's prize: $2,200 US; points: 16 #4 s1 Lindsay Davenport USA d #68 Marion Bartoli FRA 7-6(5), 7-5 Lindsay Davenport #11 s2 Ai Sugiyama JPN d #61 Akiko Morigami JPN 1-6, 6-3, 6-2 #16 s3 Silvia Farina Elia ITA d #66 Anabel Medina Garrigues ESP 6-0, 3-6, 6-4 Silvia Farina Elia #29 s4 Emilie Loit FRA d #99 q Stephanie Cohen-Aloro FRA 6-1, 6-2 *#63 Claudine Schaul LUX d #32 s5 Tina Pisnik SLO 7-5, 6-2 *#96 q Milagros Sequera VEN d #49 Laura Granville USA 6-3, 6-2 #59 Katarina Srebotnik SLO d #76 Julia Vakulenko UKR 6-0, 6-0 #75 Barbora Strycova CZE d #93 Severine Beltrame FRA 6-4, 7-6(2)

Strasbourg, QFs, Thurs loser's prize: $4,000 US; points: 30 #4 s1 Lindsay Davenport USA d #59 Katarina Srebotnik SLO 6-0, 6-1 Lindsay Davenport *#63 Claudine Schaul LUX d #11 s2 Ai Sugiyama JPN 5-7, 7-6(8), 7-5 Claudine Schaul #16 s3 Silvia Farina Elia ITA d #96 q Milagros Sequera VEN 4-6, 6-0, 6-2 #29 s4 Emilie Loit FRA d #75 Barbora Strycova CZE 6-3, 6-1

Strasbourg, SFs, Fri story loser's prize: $7,500 US; points: 55 #4 s1 Lindsay Davenport USA d #16 s3 Silvia Farina Elia ITA 6-2, 6-0 Lindsay Davenport     Lindsay said: "I tried to control the match early on.  This is why I stayed aggressive. You always have to be careful in a match like this one, especially against a player like Silvia who is a dangerous on clay. She did not play as well as last night, and I was able to remain concentrated when the level of the game went up...     "[In the Final, Claudine] Schaul has nothing to lose. She is probably having the best week of her life, but I played a lot of finals and that experience will come in handy."     Silvia said: "I don’t think anybody could have done better against Davenport today. I had no chance at all. She was simply too good.  This is why she is No. 4 in the world. On the other hand, looking at the bright side, losing in the semifinals will gave me more energy for the French Open." *#63 Claudine Schaul LUX d #29 s4 Emilie Loit FRA 6-4, 6-1 Claudine Schaul

Strasbourg, Final, Sat loser's prize: $14,500 US; points: 85 winner's prize: $27,000 US; points: 120 *#63 Claudine Schaul LUX d #4 s1 Lindsay Davenport USA 2-6, 6-0, 6-3

Strasbourg, Doubles Final, Sat loser's prize: $4,250 winner's prize: $8,000 Lisa McShea & Milagros Sequera d s3 Tina Krizan & Katarina Srebotnik 6-4, 6-1 Strasbourg, Qualifying Finals, Mon May 17 *#98 Henrieta Nagyova SVK d #78 Mara Santangelo ITA 62 26 61 #96 Milagros Sequera VEN d #284 Asa Svensson SWE 6-2, 6-3 #99 Stephanie Cohen-Aloro FRA d #144 Stephanie Gehrlein GER 6-2, 6-1 #119 Conchita Martinez Granados ESP d #163 Natalie Grandin RSA 6-3, 6-4

Vienna, 1st Round, Mon 10am loser's prize: $1,300 US; points: 1 *#60 Jie Zheng CHN d #30 s3 Lisa Raymond USA 6-3, 6-2 #37 s5 Amy Frazier USA d #208 wc Ana Ivanovic SCG 6-4, 6-1 #45 Nicole Pratt AUS d #69 Denisa Chladkova CZE 7-6(5), 7-5 #65 Lubomira Kurhajcova SVK d #73 Ludmila Cervanova SVK 6-3, 6-1 *#255 wc Yvonne Meusburger AUT d #79 Maria Elena Camerin ITA 7-6(4), 6-1 Vienna, 1st Round, Tues 10:30am #36 s4 Maria Vento-Kabchi VEN d #70 Melinda Czink HUN 4-6, 6-0, 6-2 #40 s6 Alicia Molik AUS d #57 Martina Sucha SVK 7-5, 7-6(4) #41 s7 Magui Serna ESP d #48 Anca Barna GER 6-1, 6-0 #42 s8 Jelena Kostanic CRO d #100 q Samantha Stosur AUS 6-0, 6-1 #47 Daniela Hantuchova SVK d #108 q Silvija Talaja CRO 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 Daniela Hantuchova hitting balls to the crowd after the match     Daniela said: "It was a tough battle, but I am happy to have made it." *#267 q Ting Li CHN d #52 Iveta Benesova CZE 6-4, 6-1 *#105 Marlene Weingartner GER d #54 Cara Black ZIM 7-6(4), 6-1 *#74 Klara Koukalova CZE d #62 Gisela Dulko ARG 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 #86 q Alina Jidkova RUS d #438 wc Barbara Schwartz AUT 6-3, 6-2 Martina Navratilova & Lisa Raymond defeated Bryanne Stewart & Samantha Stosur 6-2, 6-1 in doubles on Tuesday

Vienna, 2nd Round, Weds loser's prize: $2,200 US; points: 16 *#86 q Alina Jidkova RUS d #13 s1 Chanda Rubin USA 7-6(2), 6-7(3), 6-4 Alina Jidkova #21 s2 Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi ISR d #74 Klara Koukalova CZE 6-0, 6-1 *#105 Marlene Weingartner GER d #36 s4 Maria Vento-Kabchi VEN 6-1, 6-1 #37 s5 Amy Frazier USA d #45 Nicole Pratt AUS 6-1, 6-2 #40 s6 Alicia Molik AUS d #47 Daniela Hantuchova SVK 7-6(1), 6-3 #41 s7 Magui Serna ESP d #255 wc Yvonne Meusburger AUT 6-1, 6-2 #42 s8 Jelena Kostanic CRO d #267 q Ting Li CHN 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 *#65 Lubomira Kurhajcova SVK d #60 Jie Zheng CHN 6-4, 6-1

Vienna, QFs, Thurs loser's prize: $4,000 US; points: 30 #21 s2 Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi ISR d #41 s7 Magui Serna ESP 6-1, 6-0 #37 s5 Amy Frazier USA d #65 Lubomira Kurhajcova SVK 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 #40 s6 Alicia Molik AUS d #105 Marlene Weingartner GER 6-2, 6-3 #42 s8 Jelena Kostanic CRO d #86 q Alina Jidkova RUS 7-6(5), 6-2

Vienna, SFs, Fri loser's prize: $7,500 US; points: 55 #21 s2 Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi ISR d #37 s5 Amy Frazier USA 7-5, 6-2 #40 s6 Alicia Molik AUS d #42 s8 Jelena Kostanic CRO 6-4, 6-3

Vienna, Final, Sat loser's prize: $14,500 US; points: 85 winner's prize: $27,000 US; points: 120 #21 s2 Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi ISR d #40 s6 Alicia Molik AUS 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 Anna Smashnova-Pistolesi after the Final

Vienna, Doubles Final, Sat loser's prize: $4,250 winner's prize: $8,000 s1 Martina Navratilova & Lisa Raymond d s2 Cara Black & Rennae Stubbs 6-2, 7-5 Vienna, Qualifying Finals, Mon May 17 #86 Alina Jidkova RUS d #175 Zi Yan CHN #100 Samantha Stosur AUS d #204 Darija Jurak CRO 6-4, 6-2 #108 Silvija Talaja CRO d #201 Zuzana Kucova SVK 6-2, 7-5 *#267 Ting Li CHN d #143 Michaela Pastikova CZE 6-3, 6-1

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