WTA: May 22-27 2006 Istanbul Cup, Istanbul, TUR Tier III $200,000 - 30 players - outdoor: red clay Live Scores - WTA pdf.: draws & OOP photos: Yahoo! news - WTA - tourney gallery Istanbul: weather forecast # 13 Anastasia Myskina # 14 Anna-Lena Groenefeld # 27 Anna Chakvetadze # 32 Shahar Peer Internationaux de Strasbourg Strasbourg, FRA Tier III $175,000 - 30 players - outdoor: red clay Live Scores html: draws - OOP - results WTA pdf.: draws & OOP - match notes photos: tourney gallery - WTA gallery Strasbourg: weather radar - forecast - map # 9 Patty Schnyder # 15 Nicole Vaidisova # 22 Nathalie Dechy # 25 Anabel Medina Garrigues

Tourney pages: Strasbourg & Istanbul: 2005 Strasbourg: 2004 - 2003 previous   other tourney pages     next Strasbourg: #15 Nicole Vaidisova 6' 0", 139lbs, RH, 2H-BH Istanbul: #32 Shahar Peer 5' 7", 132lbs, RH, 2H-BH

    Reebok Day: On Saturday in France, in the final of the Internationaux de Strasbourg, 17-year-old 2nd-seeded # 15 Nicole Vaidisova from Prague, Czech Republic, won her 6th WTA singles title by defeating 20-year-old unseeded # 64 Shuai Peng of China, 7-6(7), 6-3 (Nicole is shown with the glassware after the match-- she also won a Mazda MX-5 car).
    About the close 1st set, Nicole said: "I had to cut down on my errors to get back on track. [Shuai] had a couple of chances in the tie-break to take the set but I was luckier. We were both nervous. I was up 3-0 in the second set and I let that get away from me, but managed to pull it out in the end." WTA story
    Shuai said: "I reached my first final and that is a good thing. Now I will forget about this loss and concentrate on the Grand Slams. I start in Paris on Monday, so I have to just rest and start to focus on that. I had a good week here."
Vaidisova career record
Peng career record

    Meanwhile in Turkey, in the final of the Istanbul Cup, 19-year-old 4th-seeded # 32 Shahar Peer from Maccabim, Israel, defeated the 2004 French Open champ, 24-year-old top-seeded # 13 Anastasia Myskina from Moscow, Russia, 1-6, 6-3, 7-6(3) (Shahar is shown with the hardware for her 3rd WTA singles title after the match).
    Shahar said: "This is my biggest victory. To beat someone ranked as high as Myskina, this was an amazing end to the tournament. I never gave up and I kept believing in myself. It's great to win another tournament just before the French Open so I'm going to go to Paris really high on confidence." WTA story
    Anastasia, now 10-7 in WTA singles finals, appeared to be winning until she aggravated a right forearm muscle strain. Anastasia said: "My arm started to hurt in the second set and so I was having trouble holding the racquet. It was natural for [Shahar] to hit to my forehand, but I just kept fighting. I came close today but not close enough. However, I made the final here, so I'm really happy with my week. I started the match well, and I was pleased with my game, so that is a positive sign going into Roland Garros."
Peer career record
Myskina career record - Anastasia Myskina wallpaper

    Just a coincidence: This week's coincidence is obvious. No, not both winners wearing Reebok. Look at the names of the runner-up in Strasbourg and the winner in Istanbul, and if you can't figure it out, never mind.
    A large fire destroyed part of Istanbul's airport on Wednesday; however, the tourney site is not near the airport, and only a cargo section of the airport was destroyed. So the good girls were OK, and their transport to Paris from Istanbul was unaffected.

    Note: At the Strasbourg website, you can only reach the draw, oop, & results pages from the live scoring page (or from the direct links above on this page).

Istanbul: The main draw for Istanbul has 8 seeds, with 2 1st-round byes. There are 4 qualifiers and 3 wild cards in the main draw. Qualifying finals are on Sunday.     Istanbul daylight savings time is GMT (UCT, ZULU) + 3 hours (US Pacific Daylight Time +10, EDT +7).       Early round play in Istanbul begins at 1pm local time. Subtract 1 hour from Istanbul for Strasbourg time.     Strasbourg: The main draw for Strasbourg has 8 seeds, with 2 1st-round byes. There are 4 qualifiers and 3 wild cards in the main draw. Qualifying finals are on Monday.     Strasbourg daylight savings time time is GMT (UCT, ZULU) + 2 hours (US Pacific Daylight Time +9, EDT +6). Early round play begins at 10 & 11am local time. Strasbourg has a live scoring page. venue map     Istanbul site before construction - click for interactive sat pic-street map   Centre Sportif de Hautepierre - click for interactive sat pic & street map

WTA SCOREBOARD: Istanbul Cup & Strasbourg Open s=seed, #=rank, *=upset, LL=lucky loser ranks are for the previous week How do players get into the "draw"? Anna-Lena Groenefeld, Mashona Washington, Ipek Senoglu, Anastasia Myskina, Catalina Castano, Sania Mirza, Anna Chakvetadze, and Meghann Shaughnessy posed on Sunday in Istanbul-- Meghann must have run really fast to get there after winning the Rabat, Morocco, final, which began at 2:30pm (actually that's Kristina Brandi, but Reuters somehow captioned the photo wrong) Catalina & Mashona were looking pretty on the boat across the Bosphorus; high seeds Anna-Lena, Anastasia, Anna and Sania posed for a pic; and Anastasia crossed racquets with Ipek, with a background as seen in From Russia With Love

Istanbul, 1st Rnd, Mon 12:30pm-Tue 10am Tue WTA story losers' prize: $1,370 US; points: 1 *#87 Meghann Shaughnessy USA d #27 s3 Anna Chakvetadze RUS 1-6, 6-4, 6-0 Tue #32 s4 Shahar Peer ISR d #82 Jamea Jackson USA 6-2, 6-1 Tue #35 s5 Sania Mirza IND d #889 wc Ipek Senoglu TUR 6-3, 6-1 Tue     Sania said: "It's always tough to play your first match after a while away, and clay isn't really my favorite surface, but considering those factors I was pretty happy with the match today.     "Ipek was playing in front of a home crowd, and I knew she'd come up with some good shots, especially on her forehand, but overall I was able to play my game quite well and I'm looking forward to improving in my next match." #37 s6 Catalina Castano COL d #65 Alona Bondarenko UKR 6-3, 6-3 Mon #40 s7 Mara Santangelo ITA d #40 Melinda Czink HUN 6-1, retired-- gastroenteritis Tue *#72 Karolina Sprem CRO #53 s8 Jelena Kostanic CRO 6-2, 7-6(3) Mon #55 Michaella Krajicek NED d #420 wc Irina Kotkina RUS 6-0, 4-0 retired-- r elbow inflam. Mon *#499 q Urszula Radwanska POL d #57 Maria Elena Camerin ITA 6-4, 7-5 Tue *#97 Emmanuelle Gagliardi SUI d #58 Eleni Daniilidou GRE 6-1 2-0 retired-- l abdominal strain Mon #61 Anastasiya Yakimova BLR d #618 q Angelique Widjaja INA 6-2, 6-1 Tue #71 Tsvetana Pironkova BUL d #88 Mariana Diaz-Oliva ARG 7-6(3), 3-6, 6-3 Mon *#339 Dominika Cibulkova SVK d #80 Ashley Harkleroad USA 6(4)-7, 6-3, 6-0 Tue #84 Mashona Washington USA d #232 q Magdalena Rybarikova SVK 7-6(9), 6-7(5), 6-3 Tue *#324 q Tamira Paszek AUT d #495 wc Alicia Molik AUS 5-7, 6-4, 6-4 Tue

Istanbul, 2nd Round, Tue-Wed 10am losers' prize: $2,550 US; points: 16 #13 s1 Anastasia Myskina RUS d #71 Tsvetana Pironkova BUL 6-4, 6-2 Tue Anastasia's backhand     Anastasia said: "There were difficult conditions today, as it was pretty windy, but for a first match it wasn't bad. I'd never played [Tsvetana] before, but I knew she beat Venus [Williams] and the Australian Open, so I was ready for a tough match." #14 s2 Anna-Lena Groenefeld GER d #97 Emmanuelle Gagliardi SUI 7-6(3), 6-2Wed #32 s4 Shahar Peer ISR d #499 q Urszula Radwanska POL 6-3, 6-0 Wed *#55 Michaella Krajicek NED d #35 s5 Sania Mirza IND 4-6, 6-1, 6-2 Wed #37 s6 Catalina Castano COL d #324 q Tamira Paszek AUT 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 Wed #40 s7 Mara Santangelo ITA d #339 Dominika Cibulkova SVK 6-1, 6-4 Wed #61 Anastasiya Yakimova BLR d #87 Meghann Shaughnessy USA 2-6, 6-3, 6-0 Wed #72 Karolina Sprem CRO d #84 Mashona Washington USA 6-4, 6-1 Wed

Istanbul, QFs, Thu 11am WTA story losers' prize: $4,745 US; points: 30 #13 s1 Anastasia Myskina RUS d #37 s6 Catalina Castano COL 6-4, 7-6(3) Anastasia's serve, Catalina about to belt a backhand, and Anastasia ready to fire a forehand     Although she escaped in 2 sets, Anastasia was very unhappy with her own play. Anastasia said: "It was a terrible match, the most difficult of the season. I played really badly, there were so many mistakes that I wouldn't normally make. I am happy, I'm over with it, and I go back to the hotel and relax." AP story #14 s2 Anna-Lena Groenefeld GER d #72 Karolina Sprem CRO 6-4, 6-4     Anna-Lena said: "I was very satisfied with the whole match today. I stuck to my game plan, which was to be aggressive and not let Karolina dictate. She's a great hitter of the ball, places it very deep in the court, so I needed to be on top of my game, and I'm happy I was able to do that."     About her semifinal opponent, Shahar Peer, Anna-Lena said: "I played [Shahar] in Stanford last year and I had a tough win against her. She's already won two titles this year, so she's obviously playing well and always improving. I'm excited to play her, and I'll do my best to stay aggressive, just like I was today." #32 s4 Shahar Peer ISR d #40 s7 Mara Santangelo ITA 6-1, 6-2 #55 Michaella Krajicek NED d #61 Anastasiya Yakimova BLR 6-1, 6-0

Istanbul, SFs, Fri noon WTA story losers' prize: $8,840 US; points: 55 #13 s1 Anastasia Myskina RUS d #55 Michaella Krajicek NED 6-2, 7-6(5) Anastasia following her backhand     Anastasia said: "I'm a lot happier today with my match than yesterday. Krajicek hits the ball harder than Castaño, which I like, so it was easier for me to play my game.     "I'm glad that I played here this week, as it's given me a lot of confidence for Roland Garros." *#32 s4 Shahar Peer ISR d #14 s2 Anna-Lena Groenefeld GER 6-0, 6-2     Shahar said: "[Anna-Lena] has a very good serve, so my game plan was to neutralise that, make her move, and stay aggressive. It is my second final in three weeks, so obviously I'm happy with the way I'm playing right now."

Istanbul, Final, Sat 2pm+ loser's prize: $16,450 US; points: 85 winner's prize: $30,500 US; points: 120 *#32 s4 Shahar Peer ISR d #13 s1 Anastasia Myskina RUS 1-6, 6-3, 7-6(3) Anastasia's backhand, the trainer examining Anastasia's strained right forearm, and Shahar's backhand

Istanbul, Doubles Final, Sat 11am losers' prize: $4,900 US winners' prize: $9,150 US *cdr183 Alona Bondarenko & Anastasiya Yakimova d cdr175 Sania Mirza & Alicia Molik 6-2, 6-4 Anastasiya & Alona     Both Alona and Anastasiya won their first WTA Tour titles. Anastasia said: "This was our first time playing together and we just tried to have fun. To win the title is a nice surprise." Istanbul, Qual Finals, Monday 11am losers' prize: $735 US *#324 Tamira Paszek AUT d #77 Yuliana Fedak UKR 5-7, 6-0, 6-4 *#232 Magdalena Rybarikova SVK d #219 Sara Errani ITA 6-3, 6-3 *#499 Urszula Radwanska POL d #223 Eva Hrdinova CZE 7-6(1), 6-1 *#618 Angelique Widjaja INA d #235 Monica Niculescu ROM 7-5, 6-3 Istanbul, Withdrawals #4 Maria Sharapova USA r ankle bone bruise #7 Lindsay Davenport USA bulging disc #55 Samantha Stosur AUS #63 Maret Ani EST #70 Akiko Morigami JPN #78 Ekaterina Bychkova RUS #95 Laura Pous Tio ESP #390 Paola Suarez ARG r hip inflammation

Tiantian Sun and Na Li (with compatriots behind) did Winston Churchill impressions at the "Petite France" section of Strasbourg on (probably) Tuesday; at the players' party, Shuai Peng, Na, Jie Zheng, Zi Yan, and Tiantian were looking very nice row 2: Among the others looking good at the players' parter were Elena Vesnina, Andreea Vanc, Martina Muller, Julia Scruff, Tina Krizan, Jelena Jankovic, and Bryanne Stewart

Strasbourg, 1st Round, Mon-Tue 10am losers' prize: $1,340 US; points: 1 #22 s3 wc Nathalie Dechy FRA d #79 Zi Yan CHN 6-2, 6-1 Tue Nathalie's backhand #25 s4 Anabel Medina Garrigues ESP d #54 Amy Frazier USA 6-1, 6-1 Tue Anabel about to serve #28 s5 Marion Bartoli FRA d #98 q Jarmila Gajdosova SVK 6-0, 7-6 Tue *#64 Shuai Peng CHN #34 s6 Gisela Dulko ARG 6-2, 6-3 Tue #36 s7 Jie Zheng CHN d #92 q Meng Yuan CHN 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 Tue #38 s8 Jelena Jankovic SCG d #47 Sybille Bammer AUT 6-5 retired-- r achilles Tue Jelena stepping into a forehand #39 Na Li CHN d #78 Ekaterina Bychkova RUS 6-2, 6-2 ppd-Tue #43 Marta Domachowska POL d #51 Jill Craybas USA 7-6(0), 6-2 Mon Marta following her forehand #45 Anna Smashnova ISR d #141 q Anne Keothavong GBR 6-3, 6-1 Tue *#85 Martina Muller GER d #52 Roberta Vinci ITA 6-3, 6-1 Tue #56 Julia Schruff GER d #66 Emma Laine FIN 6-2, 6-4 Tue #59 Elena Vesnina RUS d #248 q Karin Knapp ITA 1-6, 6-3, 7-6(3) Tue #60 Aiko Nakamura JPN d #89 Shinobu Asagoe JPN 6-1, 7-5 Mon-rain-Tue *#269 Timea Bacsinsky SUI d #81 Lisa Raymond USA 5-7, 6-2, 6-1 Tue

Strasbourg, 2nd Round, Wed 11am WTA story losers' prize: $2,260 US; points: 16 *#85 Martina Muller GER d #9 s1 wc Patty Schnyder SUI 6-4, 6-3     Martina said: "It’s my first victory over a Top 10 player so I am really happy about that. I think I played well today and I am happy to be in the quarterfinals."     Patty said: "I don’t know what happened today. I just couldn’t get into the match. I didn’t have any feeling for the court today. At least I got one more match under my belt before Roland Garros." #15 s2 Nicole Vaidisova CZE d #269 Timea Bacsinsky SUI 6-3, 6-2 *#39 Na Li CHN d #22 s3 wc Nathalie Dechy FRA 6-3, 7-6(4) #25 s4 Anabel Medina Garrigues ESP d #60 Aiko Nakamura JPN 6-1, 6-0 *#59 Elena Vesnina RUS d #28 s5 Marion Bartoli FRA 6-1, 6-1 #64 Shuai Peng CHN d #56 Julia Schruff GER 7-5, 6-3 #36 s7 Jie Zheng CHN d #43 Marta Domachowska POL 6-4, 6-4 #38 s8 Jelena Jankovic SCG d #45 Anna Smashnova ISR 6-1, 5-7, 6-2

Strasbourg, QFs, Thu 11am WTA story losers' prize: $4,270 US; points: 30 #15 s2 Nicole Vaidisova CZE d #36 s7 Jie Zheng CHN 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 Nicole delivering a twist serve, Jie's forehand volley, and Nicole about to swat a forehand drive     Nicole said: "It was cold and raining on and off so it was a very tough match. In the second set I tried to go for too much to finish the match, but it didn’t work and we ended up playing a third set.     "I made a lot of errors I shouldn’t have, but I’m happy it ended the way it did. I’m ready to go to the end of the tournament. The more matches I play, the better I get." #25 s4 Anabel Medina Garrigues ESP d #59 Elena Vesnina RUS 6-2, 6-4     2005 Strasbourg champ Anabel said: "It was really tough conditions out there today. In the second set I just had a really hard time because the balls were wet and heavy. When we changed to new balls, it was a big change in my game and I was able to finish off the match.     "I am motivated to do well here like last year, if I can. And I am especially motivated as the winner gets a car [a Mazda MX-5]." #38 s8 Jelena Jankovic SCG d #39 Na Li CHN 7-5, 6-1 #64 Shuai Peng CHN d #85 Martina Muller GER 7-5, 6-4 Shuai and Martina thinking about switching to Geico

Strasbourg, SFs, Fri 2pm WTA story losers' prize: $7,730 US; points: 55 #15 s2 Nicole Vaidisova CZE d #38 s8 Jelena Jankovic SCG 6-3, 1-0 retired-- dizziness After practicing on Friday, Nicole bought cheeseballs for everybody     Jelena said: "I don't know what happened, I was just not feeling well. I was dizzy and felt I couldn't go on. I'm disappointed that I had to retire from the tournament as I was doing well. Now I will just rest and recover hopefully in time for my first match at Roland Garros."     Nicole said: "I didn't realize [Jelena] wasn't feeling well. Of course I'm happy to be in the final, but I would've preferred to play the whole match." *#64 Shuai Peng CHN d #25 s4 Anabel Medina Garrigues ESP 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 Shuai ready to wallop a backhand, and Anabel with similar intentions     Shuai said: "Very difficult conditions today. [Anabel] was giving me high balls to my backhand in the second set and I didn't like it at all, so I thought, I will give her the same, and that's what the difference was for me in the third...     "I have been in the semis of Tier I and Tier II events, but this is my first final. I am very tired but very happy. I will rest as much as I can, because [Nicole] had a very quick match today, and I will need to be rested to play her tomorrow."     Anabel said: ""It was a very tough match and [Shuai] just played better than me. Especially in the second set, I had a hard time returning her balls. I'm disappointed not to be able to defend my title, but I'm happy with my week here. Going into Roland Garros, I feel I'm very well prepared."

Strasbourg, Final, Sat 2pm loser's prize: $15,000 US; points: 85 winner's prize: $28,000 US; points: 120 #15 s2 Nicole Vaidisova CZE d #64 Shuai Peng CHN 7-6(7), 6-3 Nicole's backhand, and after match point

Strasbourg, Doubles Final, Sat after singles losers' prize: $4,400 US winners' prize: $8,250 US cdr27 s1 Martina Navratilova & Liezel Huber d cdr145 s3 Martina Müller & Andreea Vanc 6-2, 7-6(1)     It was Martina's 176th career doubles title, and Liezel's 14th. Strasbourg, Qual Finals, Mon May 22 10am losers' prize: $650 US #92 Meng Yuan CHN d #196 Ting Li CHN 4-6, 6-1, 6-1 #98 Jarmila Gajdosova SVK d #125 Severine Bremond FRA 6-2, 6-3 #141 Anne Keothavong GBR d #144 Aleksandra Wozniak CAN 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 *#248 Karin Knapp ITA d #203 Virginie Pichet FRA 6-2, 6-0 Strasbourg, Withdrawals #23 Maria Kirilenko RUS #33 Klara Koukalova CZE #63 Maret Ani EST #68 Maria Sanchez Lorenzo ESP #86 Nuria Llagostera Vives ESP Nicole and Shuai flanking WTA Tour President Stacey Allaster

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