WTA: Feb 27-Mar 4 2006 Qatar Total Open, Doha, Qatar Tier II $600,000 - 28 players - outdoor: hard Khalifa Tennis Complex Live Scores - WTA pdf.: draws & OOP - match notes Photos: Yahoo - tourney gallery - WTA gallery Doha: weather forecast - map, .jpg - map, .pdf - sat pic # 2 Amelie Mauresmo # 8 Nadia Petrova # 11 Francesca Schiavone # 12 Anastasia Myskina Abierto Mexicano, Acapulco, MEX Tier III (with ATP) $180,000 - 32 players - outdoor: red clay Fairmont Acapulco Princess Live Scores - Live Scores ? WTA pdf.: draws & OOP - match notes .html: q draw - singles draw - sched Photos: tourney gallery - WTA Gallery Acapulco: weather radar - forecast - sat pic # 18 Flavia Pennetta, # 22 Anna-Lena Groenefeld # 29 Klara Koukalova, # 30 Gisela Dulko

Tourney pages: Doha & Acapulco: 2007 - 2005 - 2004 previous other tourney pages next Doha: #8 Nadia Petrova 5' 10¼", 143lbs, RH, 2H-BH Acapulco: #22 Anna-Lena Groenefeld 5' 11", 154½lbs, RH, 2H-BH

    On Saturday in the final of the Qatar Total Open in Doha, 23-year-old 2nd-seeded # 8 Nadia Petrova from Moscow, Russia, defeated 26-year-old top-seeded # 2 Amelie Mauresmo of France (residence: Geneva, Switzerland) 6-3, 7-5 (photo shown).

    Nadia is now 2-4 in WTA singles finals. She broke a title jinx against her in the last final she played in, defeating Patty Schnyder in October, 2005, to take the title in Linz, Austria.
    Nadia received a Harley-Davidson motorcycle in addition to the $95,500 prize. Nadia said: "I am absolutely delighted with my effort. I played my best match here in Doha today, against probably the best player of the tournament." AP story
    Nadia, a fixture in the WTA top 10, is now pushing closer to the top 5-- tough territory to break into. Nadia's mother, Nadejda Ilina, won the bronze medal at the Montreal Olympics in the 400 meter relay; her father, Victor Petrov, was a hammer thrower.
Nadia Petrova Wallpaper - Nadia Petrova record

    Amelie is still 4-2 against Nadia-- but the matches have been close. On the verge of overtaking Kim Clijsters and becoming # 1 in the WTA, Amelie is now 22-18 in WTA singles finals. Because the injured Clijsters is not defending her Indian Wells title (the next tourney, March 6-19), she will lose points, and Amelie will become # 1 in the March 20th rankings.
    Amelie said: "Kim is not playing for a couple of weeks so I'll be the world No.1 one anyway, but I am not too disappointed having failed to achieve that here." AFP story
Amelie Mauresmo record

    In the Acapulco final on Saturday evening, 20-year-old 2nd-seeded # 22 Anna-Lena Groenefeld from Nordhorn, Germany, won her first WTA singles title by defeating just-turned-24-years-old top-seeded # 18 Flavia Pennetta from Milan, Italy, 6-1, 4-6, 6-2.
    Anna-Lena said: "I started very well, and then in the second set, I made more errors. But I felt comfortable after the second set. I just tried to tell myself to keep being aggressive and going for my shots. The key today was to continue to be aggressive, to keep her behind the baseline and keep moving in." WTA story
    Flavia and Anna-Lena had never before met on the field of combat.
    Anna-Lena is now 1-3 in WTA singles finals. Less than 30 minutes after winning the singles final, Anna-Lena, partnered with her friend Meghann Shaughnessy (with whom she shares coaching & management), returned to the court to win the doubles title (her 4th and Meghann's 14th) by defeating Shinobu Asagoe & Emilie Loit, 6-1, 6-3.
    2005 Acapulco champ Flavia has won 3 WTA singles titles in 8 finals; 6 of those 8 finals, and all three titles, were on clay courts. Flavia also reached the final last week in Bogota, but was defeated there by Lourdes Dominguez Lino.

    Doha time is GMT (UCT, ZULU) +3 hours (US Pacific Time +11, ET +8). The Doha website, which went way downhill in 2005, appears to be much improved this year, and live scoring is back.
    Acapulco time is GMT (UCT, ZULU) -6 hours (US Pacific Time +2, ET -1).

WTA SCOREBOARD: Doha & Acapulco s=seed, #=rank, *=upset, LL=lucky loser ranks are for the previous week How do players get into the "draw"? Anastasia Myskina, at left, was one of several players who visited the World Superbike Championships in Doha on Saturday... The four top seeds, Francesca Schiavone, Amelie Mauresmo, Nadia Petrova, and Anastasia posed for a pic after meeting the press... Martina Hingis practiced in Doha on Sunday, preparing to defeat Mashona Washington in the 1st round At the player party on Tuesday, Kateryna & Alona Bondareno posed for a pic with Tatiana Poutchek, Andreea Vanc, and Antonia Matic... meanwhile, Anabel Medina Garrigues & Francesca Schiavone took some photos with their Sony Ericsson camera phones

Doha, 1st Round, Mon 4:30pm, Tue 3pm loser's prize: $4,175 US; points: 1 #14 s5 Daniela Hantuchova SVK d #32 Kveta Peschke CZE 7-6(4), 5-7, 6-1 Tue Daniela's fine forehand, and Kveta launching a backhand #15 s6 Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS d #53 Jie Zheng CHN 6-0, 6-1 Tue Svetlana ready to wallop a forehand, and Jie's backhand *#43 Roberta Vinci ITA d #16 s7 Elena Likhovtseva RUS 6-4, 6-4 Mon *#68 Julia Schruff GER d #21 s8 Jelena Jankovic SCG 6-2, 7-5 Mon Although she lost, Jelena was looking cheery when presented with a birthday cake, and a chocolate fish, at the player party on Tuesday, her 21st birthday #23 Maria Kirilenko RUS d #200 q Ting Li CHN 6-2, 6-4 Tue Maria serving, and firing a forehand *#85 q Eleni Daniilidou GRE d #25 Anabel Medina Garrigues ESP 6-4, 6-3 Tue Anabel following a forehand, and Eleni's backhand #26 Ai Sugiyama JPN d #254 wc Selima Sfar TUN 6-3, 6-3 Tue Ai and Selima firing forehands #27 Marion Bartoli FRA d #341 q Neha Uberoi USA 6-0, 7-6(5) Tue *#67 Na Li CHN d #45 Vera Zvonareva RUS 6-4, 6-4 Mon *#109 Alona Bondarenko UKR d #48 Vera Dushevina RUS 7-6(1), 6-1 Mon #50 wc Martina Hingis SUI d #97 Mashona Washington USA 6-1, 6-2 Mon Martina with a forehand in her sights, Mashona firing one, and Martina launching a backhand #79 Maria Vento-Kabchi VEN d #161 q Shikha Uberoi IND 6-0, 6-1 Tue

Doha, 2nd Round, Tue-Wed 4pm Wed WTA story loser's prize: $7,820 US; points: 25 #2 s1 Amelie Mauresmo FRA d #27 Marion Bartoli FRA 6-0, 6-2 Wed Amelie spinning a forehand #8 s2 Nadia Petrova RUS d #85 q Eleni Daniilidou GRE 6-1, 6-2 Wed Nadia sat for a quick mug shot at the player party on Tuesday *#50 wc Martina Hingis SUI d #11 s3 Francesca Schiavone ITA 6-1, 6-2 Wed Martina hanging out with friends on Tuesday, and chasing down a forehand on Wednesday *#26 Ai Sugiyama JPN d #12 s3 Anastasia Myskina RUS 7-6(2), 6(6)-7, 6-4 Wed Ai about to belt a backhand, Anastasia slicing a serve Ai-ward, and Ai watching another backhand fly     Ai said: "It's always difficult playing a strong player like Anastasia, so I am pretty relieved to win and make the quarterfinals here. I won my first match of the year here last night and that really gave me a lot of confidence. Today I just focused on myself, on my rhythm, and not on my opponent. That was what made the difference for me today. [Anastasia] fought to the end and never gave up, so it was a very tough match mentally. I guess Doha is lucky for me because it took me until Doha last year to get my first win also." AFP story     Anastasia said: "All credit to Ai because she played very well... When I was trailing 4-5 in the third set, I lost my serve. Had I held it, it could have been different." Reuters story *#67 Na Li CHN d #14 s5 Daniela Hantuchova SVK 4-6, 7-6(5), 6-1 Wed #15 s6 Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS d #23 Maria Kirilenko RUS 6-4, 7-6(4) Wed Svetlana serving, Maria following a backhand, and Svetlana following a forehand #43 Roberta Vinci ITA d #79 Maria Vento-Kabchi VEN 6-2, 6-3 Wed Roberta at the player party on Tuesday #68 Julia Schruff GER d #109 Alona Bondarenko UKR 6-3, 6-3 Tue

Doha, QFs, Thurs 4pm WTA story loser's prize: $14,600 US; points: 49 #2 s1 Amelie Mauresmo FRA d #43 Roberta Vinci IT 6-4, 6-0 Amelie's forehand     Amelie said: "I was not really familiar with Vinci's game, and she has a very unique way of playing, so I think it took me the first set to get used to the way she played, and figure out how to play against her. I'm not thinking about No.1 [ranking] at the moment. I'm only thinking about the next match." #8 s2 Nadia Petrova RUS d #67 Na Li CHN 6-4, 6-4 Nadia & Na firing forehands *#50 wc Martina Hingis SUI d #15 s6 Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS 7-6(7), 6-2 Martina's forehand, Svetlana's backhand, and Martina ready to launch a backhand     Martina put 77% of her 1st serves in the box, and converted 5 of 9 break point opportunities (Svetlana: 64%, and 3 of 8). Martina said: "I served very well in the first set, I held my serve, and that was key, just like yesterday. I won with my heart today. Wining the tie-break gave me confidence." WTA story #26 Ai Sugiyama JPN d #68 Julia Schruff GER 6-3, 6-2 Ai serving, and Julia running down a forehand     Ai, a great doubles player, has also reached the semis in doubles, partnered with Daniela Hantuchova.     Ai said: "I played two matches yesterday and two matches today, and I think my fitness is very good, and I have the confidence that I was missing until now. I know Petrova is a very tough opponent, and I'll do my best tomorrow and try to make the final."

Doha, SFs, Fri 5pm loser's prize: $27,300 US; points: 88 #2 s1 Amelie Mauresmo FRA d #50 wc Martina Hingis SUI 6-2, 6-2 Amelie's forehand, and Martina serving     Neither player held serve for the first five games of the 2nd set-- after which Martina did not win another game.     Martina said: "I'm a bit disappointed. But I lost to the best player... I am not unhappy with my game because I know I'm progressing. But having said that I know there are certain areas of my game where I need to concentrate more." Reuters story     Amelie said: "I served well and returned well. I was seeing the ball well and I was able to play my shots... Hingis is a great player. I don't think she has to prove anything. Perhaps, coming back after a long gap and hitting top form would take some time..." #8 s2 Nadia Petrova RUS d #26 Ai Sugiyama JPN 6-1, 7-6(2) Nadia & Ai fetching forehands

Doha, Final, Sat 6pm loser's prize: $51,000 US; points: 137 winner's prize: $95,500 US; points: 195 *#8 s2 Nadia Petrova RUS d #2 s1 Amelie Mauresmo FRA 6-3, 7-5 Nadia's backhand, Amelie chasing a forehand, and Nadia after the match, sitting on the Harley-Davidson she won (along with $95,500) and holding the Qatar Tennis Federation's big Q

Doha, Doubles Final, Sat 3pm loser's prize: $16,120 winner's prize: $30,000 cdr31 s3 Ai Sugiyama d Daniela Hantuchova d cdr71 Tiantian Sun & Ting Li 6-4, 6-4 Doha, Qual Finals, Mon Feb 27 loser's prize: $2,230 #85 Eleni Daniilidou GRE d #144 Kyra Nagy HUN 6-2, 6-0 *#200 Ting Li CHN d #139 Tatiana Poutckek BLR 6-3, 6-1 *#161 Shikha Uberoi IND d #142 Kateryna Bondarenko UKR 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 *#341 Neha Uberoi USA d #221 Elena Baltacha GBR 6-3, 6(5)-7, 6-3 Doha, Withdrawals #19 Nathalie Dechy FRA #36 Sania Mirza IND #41 Nuria Llagostera Vives ESP #60 Shuai Peng CHN

Acapulco, 1st Rd, Mon-Tue 11am loser's prize: $1,320 US; points: 1 #18 s1 Flavia Pennetta ITA d #62 Antonella Serra Zanetti ITA 6-4, 6-2 Tue Flavia firing a forehand, and Antonella's backhand #22 s2 Anna-Lena Groenefeld GER d #83 Kristina Brandi PUR 6-3, 3-6, 6-1Mon Anna-Lena after match point #29 s3 Klara Koukalova CZE d #290 q Zsofia Gubacsi HUN 6-3, 6-2 Tue Klara's forehand *#59 Emilie Loit FRA d #30 s4 Gisela Dulko ARG 7-6(2), 6-2 Tue Although she lost early, Gisela spent the week in Acapulco, and was looking very scenic on Friday (main draw play at Indian Wells, the only WTA tourney the following two weeks, does not begin until Wednesday) #39 s5 Catalina Castaño COL d #105 C Martinez Granados ESP 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 Mon #40 s6 Iveta Benesova CZE d #91 Kaia Kanepi EST 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 Mon Iveta preparing to wallop a forehand #42 s7 Anna Smashnova ISR d #391 wc Daniela Muñoz Gallegos MEX 6-1, 6-2 Tue Anna's backhand volley *#133 wc Katerina Bohmova CZE d #56 s8 Shinobu Asagoe JPN 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 Mon+ Katerina's service toss *#86 Meghann Shaughnessy USA d #63 Mariana Diaz-Oliva ARG 6-1, 6-0 Tue *#90 Laura Pous Tio ESP d #74 Maria A Sanchez Lorenzo ESP 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 Tue *#93 Tathiana Garbin ITA d #89 Lourdes Dominguez Lino ESP 6-3, 6-4 Tue *#211 q Nathalie Gussoni ARG d #78 Zuzana Ondraskova CZE 6-1, 7-6(4) Tue Nathalie with a forehand in her sights #98 Maret Ani EST d #499 wc Melissa Torres MEX 6-1, 6-1 Mon Maret either swinging very early, or hitting a forehand very low *#381 q Carla Tiene BRA d #96 Arantxa Parra Santoja ESP 6-3, 6-0 Tue #99 Emmanuelle Gagliardi SUI d #125 Bethanie Mattek USA 7-6(4), 2-6, 6-0 Mon Emmanuelle following a slice backhand *#386 q Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez ESP d #112 Hana Sromova CZE 6-1, 6-1 Tue

Acapulco, 2nd Round, Wed 1pm loser's prize: $2,275 US; points: 16 #18 s1 Flavia Pennetta ITA d #93 Tathiana Garbin ITA 6-2, 5-7, 6-2 Flavia preparing to slice a backhand #22 s2 Anna-Lena Groenefeld GER d #381 q Carla Tiene BRA 6-3, 7-6(3 Anna-Lena ready to wallop a forehand #90 Laura Pous Tio ESP d #29 s3 Klara Koukalova CZE 7-5, 6-0 Laura Babolating a forehand *#86 Meghann Shaughnessy USA d #39 s5 Catalina Castaño COL 61 60 *#386 q Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez ESP d #40 s6 Iveta Benesova CZE 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 Lefties: Maria Jose's forehand, and Iveta's backhand *#98 Maret Ani EST d #42 s7 Anna Smashnova ISR 1-6, 7-6(6), 2-4 #59 Emilie Loit FRA d #99 Emmanuelle Gagliardi SUI 6-4, 7-5 *#211 q Nathalie Gussoni ARG d #133 wc Katerina Bohmova CZE 6-, 7-6 Nathalie after winning a point

Acapulco, QFs, Thu 3pm WTA story loser's prize: $4,135 US; points: 30 #18 s1 Flavia Pennetta ITA d #386 q Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez ESP 3-6, 7-6(2), 6-0 Flavia on her way to field a forehand     Flavia said: "I realized that losing the second set would mean losing the match, so I knew I had to improve my game... I was able to recover in the second set, and I think I played very well in the tie-break. In the third set I really got better and her game dropped, and that was the difference." #22 s2 Anna-Lena Groenefeld GER d #86 Meghann Shaughnessy USA 6-1, 6-2 Anna-Lena after winning a game, and her friend Meghann, who shares the same coach and management with Anna-Lena, following her serve #59 Emilie Loit FRA d #211 q Nathalie Gussoni ARG 7-6(3), 6-3 Emilie after match point *#98 Maret Ani EST d #90 Laura Pous Tio ESP 7-5, 6-2

Acapulco, SFs, Fri loser's prize: $7,820 US; points: 30 #18 s1 Flavia Pennetta ITA d #98 Maret Ani EST 6-3, 6-1 Flavia's forehand, Maret's backhand, and Flavia after match point #22 s2 Anna-Lena Groenefeld GER d #59 Emilie Loit FRA 6-2, 6-4 Anna-Lena's backhand, Emilie's forehand, and Anna-Lena after match point

Acapulco, Final, Sat 6:30pm loser's prize: $15,000 US; points: 85 winner's prize: $27,970 US; points: 120 *#22 s2 Anna-Lena Groenefeld GER d #18 s1 Flavia Pennetta ITA 6-1, 4-6, 6-2 Anna-Lena's forehand, Flavia delivering a backhand volley, and Anna-Lena after match point

Acapulco, Doubles Final, Sat after singles loser's prize: $4,480 winner's prize: $8,340 cdr18 s1 Anna-Lena Groenefeld & Meghann Shaughnessy d cdr43 s2 Shinobu Asagoe & Emilie Loit 6-1, 6-3 Meghann & Anna-Lena Acapulco, Qual Finals, Mon Feb 27 loser's prize: $675 *#211 Nathalie Gussoni ARG d #104 Anastasiya Yakimova BLR 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 *#386 Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez ESP d #248 Paula Garcia ESP 7-5, 6-0 *#381 Carla Tiene BRA d #258 Tina Schiechtl AUT 6-2, 6-2 #290 Zsofia Gubacsi HUN d #358 Maria V Garcia Sokol ARG 6-3, 6-4 Acapulco, Withdrawals #57 Akiko Morigami JPN #61 Sybille Bammer AUT #76 Dally Randriantefy MAD #84 Yoon Jeong Cho KOR #289 Paola Suarez ARG

Opinion:     This would seem an opportune moment to mention once again the obvious drawback to the WTA rankings system. The "round points" a player earns for advancing in tourneys determine the player's rank (actually, their best points from up to 17 tourneys). These points are retained in full for 52 weeks. One year later, the player must equal their performance the previous year, or they lose points.     Flavia Pennetta reached the final the past two weeks in Bogota and Acapulco. But she won both of those finals in 2005, and lost them this year. Flavia thus loses points, despite the fact that she is playing well.     The problem is that matches played up to a year ago count as much in a players rank as matches played yesterday. The solution is to "fade" the points over the course of the year. The rankings are calculated by a computer, so it would be easy to do this. I would suggest subtracting 1/52 of the value of the points earned in any given tourney every week, so that they fade gradually away over one year. Players who win a title would no longer have the pressure of "points to defend." A players recent performance would be more important in the rankings. And players would no longer ascend the ranks simply because someone else lost, but because they won.     Amelie Mauresmo will become # 1 in the WTA on March 20 because # 1 Kim Clijsters is injured, and cannot defend her Indian Wells title. Kim will thus lose her "points to defend." If the points had been faded over the year, then Amelie would already be # 1, and it would be because she has been winning so much recently, not because of some other player's injury or loss. This would be a much more sensible ranking system.

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