WTA Nov 7-12 WTA Championships Tier I $3,000,000 8 players - indoor: hard Madrid Arena Casa de Campo, Madrid, Spain Live Scores - Eurosport Live Audio WTA .pdf: draws & OOP     match notes Championships qualifying standings US TV schedule (VERSUS) pics: Yahoo! news - WTA Madrid: weather radar - forecast Justine Henin-Hardenne Maria Sharapova Amélie Mauresmo Svetlana Kuznetsova Nadia Petrova Elena Dementieva Martina Hingis Kim Clijsters

Tourney pages: WTA Championships: 2005 - 2004 - 2003 previous other tourney pages next Madrid: #3 Justine Henin-Hardenne 5' 5¾", 126 lbs, RH 1H-BH Madrid: 29th WTA Title 1st WTA Championships Title

    On Sunday in Madrid, Spain, in the final of the WTA Championships, the 2006 French Open champ, 24-year-old # 3 Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium (residence: Monte Carlo, Monaco), defeated the 2006 Aussie Open and Wimbledon champ, 27-year-old # 1 Amelie Mauresmo of France (residence: Geneva, Switzerland), 6-4, 6-3 (Justine is shown during the match, and after match point). Justine broke Amelie's serve six times in the match; Amelie broke Justine's serve three times.

    Justine had been sidelined since the Fed Cup final in September, when she tore a calf muscle behind her right knee. Justine said: "It's a lot of emotion for me because I know how hard it is to come back. I looked at what I did then and today I just tried to do something else. It's unbelievable. I didn't expect to win the title here. I wanted this win so much. I gave it everything... Now I can relax, think about other things than tennis and savour this fabulous season that I've had." AFP story
    Justine also said: "The key this week was being very aggressive no matter what happened. I did a lot of serve and volley. I went to the net and it really paid off." Reuters story - WTA story

    Amelie had defeated Justine in a round-robin preliminary match on Friday. Now Amelie and Justine are again tied in career matches:, at six wins apiece.
    Amelie said: "[Justine] was better than me today. I wasn't able to produce what I did yesterday. I didn't serve the way I needed to. I was a bit tired. I had to give up a lot of energy to qualify for the semi-finals and yesterday against Kim [Clijsters]. She took her chances and I didn't. That's the way it is."

    The WTA Singles Rankings on Monday, and for the rest of the year, will show Justine Henin-Hardenne # 1, Maria Sharapova # 2, and Amelie Mauresmo # 3.

    5-time Grand Slam tourney champion Justine Henin-Hardenne is now 29-15 in WTA singles finals, and also won the titles this year at the French Open, New Haven, Eastbourne, Dubai, and Sydney, despite being troubled by injuries. She also reached the finals at the Australian Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open.
Henin-Hardenne wallpaper - Henin-Hardenne career record

    Amelie Mauresmo is now 23-20 in WTA singles finals. She won the titles this year at Wimbledon, the Australian Open, Antwerp, and the Paris indoor tourney.
Mauresmo career record

WTA & Eurosport Highlight & Interview Videos
Player Party: WTA: real video - windows media
Sun Final: WTA: real video - windows media     Eurosport (real video): highlights - Henin-Hardenne interview
Sat Semis: WTA: real video - windows media     Eurosport (real video): highlights
Fri: WTA: real video - windows media     Eurosport (real video): highlights
Thu: WTA: real video - windows media
Wed: WTA: real video - windows media     Eurosport (real video): highlights - Clijsters interview - Kuznetsova interview
Tue: WTA: real video - windows media     Eurosport (real video): highlights


The WTA Championships System:
    2 groups, Yellow and Red (the colors used for names have changed two years in a row), play in a round-robin format (12 matches), with two winners from each group becoming semifinalists who play off on Saturday. In the semis, the player who finishes first in each group will play the second place finisher from the other group.

    If players win the same number of matches, the winner of their head-to-head match in the round robin is placed higher in the standings. Any ties will be resolved first by the percentage of sets won, then by the percentage of games won.

    Players who qualify for the WTA Championships (in singles) all receive at least $100,000; the champion receives $1 million.

    4 doubles teams also play, with no prelims.

    3 players entered the WTA Championships with a chance to take the # 1 ranking:
    2006 Aussie Open & Wimbledon champ and current # 1 Amelie Mauresmo won the WTA Championships in 2005, and, since ranking points won in WTA tourneys are kept for 52 weeks, she thus had 485 "points to defend."
    Normally, this would mean that Amelie could not gain any points at the same tourney this year, but for some reason the ranking points for this years WTA Championships were increased, giving the champ 525 points instead of last year's 485, so Amelie could have 40 more points in the Nov 13th rankings.
    The victory by Martina Hingis over Nadia Petrova on Wednesday guaranteed that Justine Henin-Hardenne would finish no lower than third in the "Yellow" group at the Championships. This alone would be enough for Justine to edge out Amelie for the # 1 ranking, and thus Amelie could not finish the year at # 1.

    2006 US Open champ and current # 2 Maria Sharapova was in a somewhat better position. She had only 218 "points to defend," and might have finished the year at # 1 by simply matching her performance of last year in reaching the semis--if Justine Henin-Hardenne had finished last in her round-robin group. But with her win over Nadia Petrova on Thursday, Justine clinched a place in the semifinals. That meant that Maria would have had to win the tourney to have a chance at finishing # 1. Justine's victory over Maria in the semis eliminated that possibility, and clinched the # 1 ranking for Justine.

    2006 French Open champ and current # 3 Justine Henin-Hardenne, who reached all 4 Grand Slam tourney finals this year, entered the tourney in the best position to finish the year at # 1. Maria Sharapova's loss in the semifinals (which happened to be a loss to Justine) meant that even if Justine had finished 3rd in her group, rather than reaching the final, she would have finished the year at # 1 anyway.

    Glitch? (Nov 13, 2006) The WTA rankings out today show Justine Henin-Hardenne with 3998, as I had calculated. However, Maria Sharapova is shown with 3532 points, 17 points less than I figured, and Amelie Mauresmo with 3391 points, 40 points less. It appears that the "points to defend" earned at last year's WTA Championships, which were subracted by the WTA's database from Maria and Amelie's totals, were based on this year's points, which were increased from last year's points (as shown on the 2005 WTA Championships drawsheet). Unless the points awarded last year were actually the same as this year (in which case the 2005 drawsheet is wrong), Maria is inadvertantly being cheated out of 17 points, and Amelie out of 40. If so, this should be corrected.


    As I have mentioned several times before, if the WTA would adopt a system of fading the points earned at tourneys gradually over the year (subtract 1/52 of their value each week), then the players would no longer enter tourneys worrying about "points to defend," and could feel good about earning points with every victory. Also, the rankings would more accurately reflect who has been playing well in the past few months, rather than almost a year ago.

Madrid WTA player's blog by Rennae Stubbs

WTA SCOREBOARD: WTA Championships s=seed, #=rank, *=upset, LL=lucky loser ranks are for the week of Nov 6 Plan your trip Local Radar Detailed Forecast     Madrid: The main draw for Madrid has no seeds, and no byes. 2 groups, Black & Green play in a round-robin format; the two top players from each group then meet in semifinals.     Madrid Arena is the oval building - click for interactive sat pic     Start times: Tue-Fri 6pm, Sat 11am, Sun 1pm doubles, 4pm singles.     The time in Madrid is UCT (GMT, Zulu, Greenwich...) plus 2 hours. That is Eastern Daylight Time in the US + 6 hours, PDT+9 hours. Spain news At the "draw" on Sunday in Madrid, retired 13-time WTA Championships qualifier Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario (left photo) was on hand, and current qualifier Elena Dementieva (right photo), playing in the year-ender for the 8th straight time, did the player rep thing. On Monday (center photo), Amelie Mauresmo, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Justine Henin-Hardenne, Maria Sharapova, Martina Hingis, Kim Clijsters, Nadia Petrova, and Elena demonstrated that they could occupy a hotel lobby together in peace and harmony less than 36 hours before facing off toe-to-toe in tennis combat.

Madrid WTA Champ's round robin, Tue 6pm (US noon ET, 9am PT) *#5 Nadia Petrova RUS d #1 Amélie Mauresmo FRA 6-2, 6-2 career matches: Amelie leads 5-3 Nadia serving, Amelie following a forehand, Nadia driving a backhand, and after match point     Nadia was in good form, while it appeared to some that Amelie might not yet have fully recovered from the shoulder injury that has troubled her late this season. Amelie, however, said her shoulder did not bother her.     Amelie said: "It's hard to say anything positive about a match like that. I speak better Spanish than I played today... There was no pain in my shoulder -- I just feel a little behind the play and I made stupid mistakes. It's the kind of match I would play after missing competitions." Reuters story     Nadia said: "It helped me that [Amelie] wasn't 100 percent, but I played smart tennis, served well and was patient. I felt I was always in control." #2 Maria Sharapova RUS d #8 Elena Dementieva RUS 6-1, 6-4 career matches: Maria leads 6-2 Maria serving a cannonball, Elena and Maria launching backhand drives, and Maria after match point     Elena was horribly plagued by her old nemesis, poor serving and double faults, including many questionable foot faults, more than had been called on her all year.     Elena said: "It was very hard to play against [Maria] as she is so focused. She is playing like a number one now, and I don't think anyone else at the moment can play close to her game."     Maria said: "I don't think I played my best tennis; the first [match] at any tournament is never easy. I hope it is going to get better, as things will only get tougher from here on." #3 Justine Henin-Hardenne BEL d #7 Martina Hingis SUI 6-2, 6(5)-7, 6-1 career matches: tied 2-2 Justine's 1-handed and Martina's 2-handed backhand drives, Justine fielding a drop shot, and after match point     Justine led 5-2 in the 2nd set, then Martina won 4 straight games to take the set to a tiebreaker, which she won. Justine then regained her top form and won the match, but the set Martina won might be useful in a different kind of tiebreaker later on: deciding who qualifies for the semifinals.     Justine said: "This is a very important tournament for me and I'm just happy to be playing. The first one is done. There's another one in two days, and I'm just going to focus on my next match against Petrova." AP story

Madrid WTA Champ's round robin, Wed 6pm (US noon ET, 9am PT) #4 Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS d #8 Elena Dementieva RUS 7-5, 6-3 career matches: Svetlana leads 4-3 Svetlana's cannonball serve, Elena chasing a forehand, Svetlana's backhand drive, and after winning a point     It was Svetlana's first match of the prelims, and a perfect start. But it was a disaster for Elena, who is playing in the WTA Championships for the 7th consecutive year, has already lost two matches without winning a set, and thus has almost no chance of reaching the semis.     Svetlana said: "I should have shut the match out earlier as I had a lot of chances. I lost concentration a little at times, but I'm looking forward to improving my game for the next matches." #2 Maria Sharapova RUS d #6 Kim Clijsters BEL 6-4, 6-4 career matches: Kim leads 4-2 Maria's service toss, Kim about to swat her splits forehand, Maria's backhand drive, and after match point     The win put Maria in an excellent postion to secure a place in Saturday's semifinals. With 1 prelim match to play, Maria is 2-0 in matches and 4-0 in sets, and will have a fair chance of reaching the semis even if she loses her match on Friday against Svetlana Kuznetsova. Kim, who plays Svetlana on Thursday, is in a precarious position. Not yet having won a set, she must defeat both Svetlana, and Elena Dementieva on Friday, to have a good chance of advancing.     Maria said: "I'm definitely playing some really good tennis. I know I've played a lot of matches and I feel good about my game... I felt like I was moving really well and no matter how big and deep her shots were I still felt like I was in position for them. And that just comes from playing a lot of matches." Reuters story - AP story     Kim said: "[Maria] was very accurate -- especially on her serve -- and kept putting me under pressure and I didn't have the chance to get into the match. In the second set I was a little more comfortable, but on important points she came up with the serves. It shows that she's the player who is hot at the moment." *#7 Martina Hingis SUI d #5 Nadia Petrova RUS 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 career matches: Martina leads 2-1 Martina's service toss Nadia & Martina driving backhands, and Martina after match point     The win kept Martina's hopes of advancing to the semifinals alive. On Thursday, Martina will play Amelie Mauresmo--who looked very rusty while losing to Nadia on Tuesday. If Martina defeats Amelie, her chances are very good. Although Martina still is only third in the standings, trailing Nadia (who has a better won-lost record in sets), Nadia must play # 3 Justine Henin-Hardenne on Thursday--no easy task.     Martina said: "I wanted to come out here and at least win one after yesterday's loss, so I'm very happy."

Madrid WTA Champ's round robin, Thu 6pm (US noon ET, 9am PT) #1 Amélie Mauresmo FRA d #7 Martina Hingis SUI 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 career matches: tied 7-7 Amelie's service toss, Martina following a backhand, Martina after the 1st set, Amelie's flying backhand, and after match point     Martina broke Amelie's serve three times in winning the 1st set--then Amelie won 10 of the next 11 games to win the 2nd set and lead 4-0 in the third. Martina closed the gap, but was unable to convert a break point to even the match when Amelie was serving at 5-4.     The win for Amelie means that her match on Friday against Justine Henin-Hardenne will determine the second semifinalist from the "Yellow" group. If Amelie defeats Justine, then Justine and Amelie will be in the semis on Saturday. If Justine defeats Amelie, then Justine and Martina Hingis will be in the semis.     Amelie said: "I wasn't able really to close out the match like I really wanted to today, but I still won and I'm still alive in the group... For me, I need to go out and win that match [against Justine Henin-Hardenne on Friday]. It's the only solution for me to qualify." AP story     Martina said: "I can only be proud of myself and I've done more than I expected in these three days. I don't regret for a second coming back [this year after a 3-year retirement due to ankle injuries]. I've shown that I am capable of playing with the best and my aim is to continue like this at the start of next season. If I play more matches like this I can only get better.     "I will definitely watch the [Henin-Hardenne - Mauresmo] match on TV, and maybe live. I don't like relying on other people, but there is still a chance to get there." Reuters story #3 Justine Henin-Hardenne BEL d #5 Nadia Petrova RUS 6-4, 6-4 career matches: Justine leads 9-2 The brace on the back of Justine's right calf to support the muscle she tore at the Fed Cup final in September, Justine's service toss, Nadia fielding a drop shot, Justine's backhand, and after match point     The win clinched a place for Justine in the semifinals on Saturday-- and Justine will finish the year with the # 1 ranking if she wins her semifinal. Justine said: "I will play with the goal to go into the final, not to be # 1. Right now I'm in the semifinal, and it's going to be another tough match for me for sure. But I don't want to look that far." *#6 Kim Clijsters BEL d #4 Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS 6-1, 6-1 career matches: Kim leads 6-1 Kim firing a forehand, Svetlana and Kim belting backhand drives, and Kim after match point     Kim had only four unforced errors in the match. Kim said: "I got that first break in the first set, and you gain confidence and it helps you play like that. I was seeing the ball today -- yesterday against Maria [Sharapova] I had trouble following the ball."

Madrid WTA Champ's round robin, Fri 6pm (US noon ET, 9am PT) #1 Amélie Mauresmo FRA d #3 Justine Henin-Hardenne BEL 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-2 career matches: Amelie leads 6-5 Amelie serving, Justine's backhand, Amelie's flying forehand, and after match point     At 3-3 during the 2nd set tiebreaker, Justine double faulted. Amelie said: "I think the tiebreak, when [Justine] double faulted at 3-all, was a key moment. It was really, really close until that last point of the tiebreak. So I think until then it could have gone either way." WTA story     Although Justine finished the round-robin with a better set record than Amelie, the win over Justine in their head-to-head match gave Amelie a first-place finish in the "Yellow" group, with Justine second, Martina Hingis third, and Nadia Petrova fourth. Amelie and Justine will thus advance to Saturday's semifinals. #2 Maria Sharapova RUS d #4 Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS 6-1, 6-4 career matches: tied 3-3 Maria following a slice serve, Svetlana's backhand drive, Maria driving forehand and backhand, and after match point     Maria had lost her last match against Svetlana, the final of the NASDAQ-100 Open at Key Biscayne in April. This time Maria broke Svetlana's serve in the first game of the match, and won the 1st set in 22 minutes.     Maria said: "It was really good to start so well. You can't fool around at the beginning of matches and you have to be strong from the beginning of the match." Reuters story 1     Maria also said: "Tomorrow against Justine is going to be a good match. I beat her at the US Open, which was good because I had a terrible head-to-head record against her. She's playing good tennis again after being off with injury... I'm just thankful I'm on a good winning streak, but that can change tomorrow. Either way I've had a great year." Reuters story 2 #6 Kim Clijsters BEL d #8 Elena Dementieva RUS 6-4, 6-0 career matches: Kim leads 11-3 Kim and Elena launching backhand drives, Elena after losing a point, and Kim after match point     Kim said: "After losing to Maria [Sharapova on Wednesday] I started to play a lot better, played my best tennis, especially against Svetlana Kuznetsova [on Thursday], and today I played my important points as well." RR 4th prizes: $100,000 US; points: 72 (Elena Dementieva & Nadia Petrova) RR 3rd prizes: $130,000 US; points: 130 (Martina Hingis & Svetlana Kuznetsova)

WTA Championships, SFs, Sat 2pm (US 8am ET, 5am PT) WTA story loser's prize: $250,000 US; points: 235 #1 Amélie Mauresmo FRA d #6 Kim Clijsters BEL 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 career matches: Kim leads 8-6 Amelie's flying forehand, Kim's backhand, and after match point     Kim said: "In these matches it's only a few points that make the difference. At the end it could have gone either way, especially at 3-all, where [Amelie] held and I had break points. But, I thought the way she came out was incredible. I don't think I've ever played against her where she played as well as she did in the first set. There's nothing you can do, just try to keep hanging in there."     Amelie said: "The atmosphere at the end was just incredible. The way people got involved in the match was so nice. And for both of us to be able to play some very high level of tennis, it really feels great." *#3 Justine Henin-Hardenne BEL d #2 Maria Sharapova RUS 6-2, 7-6(5) career matches: Justine leads 5-2 Justine's service toss, Maria about to lightly tap a forehand, Justine dispatching a backhand, and after match point     The loss broke a 19-match winning streak for Maria, the longest by any WTA player this season. Maria said: "I felt a little sluggish. And I tried. I mean from 5-3, I tried to find a way. I did feel like I was getting better towards the end of the match, but I still don't feel like my concentration was quite there. I could put two, three points together. And against someone like Justine, that's not good."     Justine said: "I was a little bit nervous at the end to conclude the match, but I'm very happy the way I played. The key for me yesterday was that I came out of the court and said there were many positives, just take these and build something for tomorrow. I just turned the page very quickly. I knew what I had to improve if I wanted to win today. I'm a competitor. When I play for nothing, like yesterday [Justine's place in the semis was assured, win or lose on Friday], it's probably harder for me."

WTA Championships, Final, Sun 4pm (US 10am ET, 7am PT) loser's prize: $500,000 US; points: 369 winner's prize: $1,000,000 US; points: 525 *#3 Justine Henin-Hardenne BEL d #1 Amélie Mauresmo FRA 6-4, 6-3 Justine tossing tall, Amelie getting a little elevation for a forehand, Justine driving a backhand, and after match point

WTA Championships, Doubles SFs, Sat 11am & after singles loser's prize: $62,500 cdr2 d1 Lisa Raymond & d1 Samantha Stosur d cdr19 d9 Kveta Peschke & d10 Francesca Schiavone 6-1, 6-4 cdr11 d5 Cara Black & d6 Rennae Stubbs d cdr7 d3 Jie Zheng & d4 Zi Yan 7-5, 2-6, 7-5 WTA Championships, Doubles Final, Sun 1pm loser's prize: $125,000 winner's prize: $250,000 cdr2 d1 Lisa Raymond & d1 Samantha Stosur d cdr11 d5 Cara Black & d6 Rennae Stubbs 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 Lisa reaching for a backhand during the match while Samantha looks on, and Sam & Lisa with their new glassware

    Alternates: Patty Schnyder and Dinara Safina, who finished 9th and 10th in the qualifying standings for the WTA Championships, are also on hand in Madrid, in case a player gets injured before the matches get underway.

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