WTA: Apr 2-8 2007 Amelia Island Bausch & Lomb Championships Amelia Island, FL Tier II $600,000 - 56 players outdoor: green clay (Har-Tru) Live Scores - in popup window WTA pdf.: draws & OOP - match notes results - draw, .html - schedule TV schedule ESPN2 Florida Times-Union: Tennis free reg pics: Yahoo! - WTA - FTU Amelia Island: weather radar - forecast # 7 Nadia Petrova # 9 Jelena Jankovic # 12 Daniela Hantuchova # 13 Patty Schnyder # 14 Dinara Safina # 15 Ana Ivanovic # 17 Na Li # 19 Tatiana Golovin Player's blog by Sybille Bammer

Tourney pages: Amelia Island: 2006 - 2005 - 2004 previous other tourney pages next Amelia Island: #19 Tatiana Golovin 5' 9", 132 lbs, RH 2H-BH Amelia Island: First WTA Singles Title in fourth final

    Got one!: On Sunday at Amelia Island, Florida, in the final of the Bausch & Lomb Championships, 19-year-old 8th-seeded # 19 Tatiana Golovin of France (residence: on Brickell Key, Miami, Florida), won her first WTA singles title by handily defeating the 2006 Bausch & Lomb champ, 24-year-old top-seeded # 7 Nadia Petrova from Moscow, Russia, 6-2, 6-1 (photo shown). Tatiana's pre-tax prize is $88,260; Nadia's is $45,180.

    Tatiana did not play at Amelia Island in 2006 because she was recovering from torn ankle ligaments she had incurred in the Miami semifinals the week before.
    Tatiana said: "It all happened so fast. Last year I was sitting in my room with my cast on, watching Petrova in the semis or finals, wishing I was here. It's definitely emotional for me to be here a year later in the final, winning the tournament...
    "Beating Venus and Ivanovic, and especially Ivanovic because I'd never beaten her before, gave me confidence. Today I knew I could beat Petrova. I knew I had the weapons and I told myself to stay aggressive and use my forehand; it put a lot of pressure on her. When the last games came, I didn't get scared...
    "Today was different from my other finals because I went out there feeling I was ready to win my first title, that I worked hard for it and deserved it." WTA story

    Nadia said: "It wasn't a really nice match for me today; I just wasn't sharp enough. I was just a split second late to get to the balls and didn't have my concentration. [Tatiana] played solid, though; she doesn't have weaknesses. It's about time she won her first title."

    Tatiana now leads Nadia 5-1 in career matches, and defeated Nadia in their only previous clay court meeting, on Har-Tru in the 2005 Charleston quarterfinals, 7-5, 6-3.
    Tatiana is now 1-3 in WTA singles finals. Her most recent final was in Stuttgart last year, where she lost to--guess who--Nadia Petrova, 6-3 7-6(4). Tatiana's 2007 match record through Sunday is 17-6.

    Nadia is now 7-7 in WTA singles finals; she won the titles in Stuttgart, Berlin, Charleston, Amelia Island, and Doha last year, and earlier this year she won the Paris indoor tourney. Nadia was 0-4 in finals before winning her first at Linz in 2005--and is 7-3 since then. Nadia's 2007 match record through Sunday is 16-6.

WTA SCOREBOARD: Amelia Island s=seed, #=rank, *=upset, LL=lucky loser ranks are for the previous week How do players get into the "draw"? The Bausch & Lomb Championships  Amelia Island, Florida       NWS weather radar     Amelia Island current conditions     Amelia Island is located in northeast Florida, north of Jacksonville, near the Georgia border.     The main draw for Amelia Island has 16 seeds, with 8 1st-round byes.     There are 8 qualifiers and 4 wild cards in the main draw.     Qualifying (2 rounds) is on Saturday & Sunday. Main draw play begins on Monday at 10am.   Amelia Island Plantation hotel at left, courts right click for satellite pic/map - map 2 Latitude: 30.558104 Long.: -81.447251 goto link for World Wind     The time at Amelia Island is UCT (GMT, Zulu...) -5 hours (=US Eastern Time, PT +3). Florida news       Amelia Island Plantation covers 1350 acres with 23 green clay tennis courts and 4 eighteen-hole golf courses. The main town on Amelia Island is called Fernandina Beach. On Saturday, March 31, 2007 at Amelia Island, Aravane Rezai, 2007 top seed (and 2006 Bausch & Lomb champ) Nadia Petrova, and Severine Bremond were among the players who took part in a pre-tourney parade, while WTA Tour Supervisor Melanie Heuer was assisted with the draw by Tatiana Golovin (who was apparently amused by Melanie's snappy patter).

Amelia Island, 1st Round, Mon-Tue 10am loser's prize: $1,595 US (2006: $1,725); points: 1 *#41 Eleni Daniilidou GRE d #22 s10 Marion Bartoli FRA 6-0, 6-4 Mon #23 s11 Katarina Srebotnik SLO d #60 Jill Craybas USA 7-6(6), 6-1 Mon Katarina driving a forehand #27 s12 Samantha Stosur AUS d #81 q Virginia Ruano Pascual ESP 7-5, 6-1 Tue #30 s13 Sybille Bammer AUT d #68 Tamarine Tanasugarn THA 6-3, 6-1 Mon     Sybille said: "I was really happy with the win over Tamarine Tanasugarn; it was a tough match, and my first of the year on clay. We had a lot of close games. I was happy with some of the forehand angles I was hitting.     "This is a very nice tournament - a big club, enough courts to practice, and lots of places to relax. There's a beach too." Sybille's Amelia Island player's blog #150 wc Dominika Cibulkova SVK d #31 s14 Anabel Medina Garrigues ESP 7-6(4), 6-2 Mon #32 s15 Jie Zheng CHN d #57 wc Alicia Molik AUS 6-4, 6-2 Mon #33 s16 Alona Bondarenko UKR d #51 Gisela Dulko ARG 6-2, 6-3 Mon #35 s17 Martina Muller GER d #95 wc Ashley Harkleroad USA 7-5, 6-1 Mon #36 Mara Santangelo ITA d #65 Lourdes Dominguez Lino ESP 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 Mon *#84 q Yaroslava Shvedova RUS d #38 Severine Bremond FRA 6-2, 3-1 Mon #39 Venus Williams USA d #54 Aravane Rezai FRA 6-1, 6-2 Tue Venus twisting a serve, and Aravane following a backhand     Former #1 Venus is feeling much better after being hampered by a prolonged left wrist sprain for most of 2006. Venus said: "Tonight was the most comfortable I've felt on the court out of all the matches I've played this year, so it's very exciting...     "[Aravane is] a player you have to watch because she can hit hard and put you off-balance, but I felt like I really counteracted that...     "I'm coming into form at the right time, what with it being clay-court season. Clay kept me in the top 50 last year." Florida Times-Union story #40 Shuai Peng CHN d #72 Eva Birnerova CZE 6-2, 6-1 Tue *#108 q Karolina Sprem CRO d #43 Meghann Shaughnessy USA 6-4, 7-6(5) Mon *#52 Meilen Tu USA d #45 Flavia Pennetta ITA 7-5, 6-1 Mon     Meilen said: "I think when I first went into the match I didn't know what to expect, because I don't play a lot of matches on clay. Being an American, it's not usually our surface.     "I realized at 5-all that I was doing too much of the same thing, and I started to change it up, attack more behind [Flavia], use long lines, shut off the court. I think that's what the difference was in the second set." Florida Times-Union story #44 Nathalie Dechy FRA d #64 Aiko Nakamura JPN 6-2, 6-1 Tue *#101 q Vera Dushevina RUS d #46 Nicole Pratt AUS 6-1, 7-5 Mon #55 Michaella Krajicek NED d #77 LL Tiantian Sun CHN 6(6)-7, 6-4, 6-4 Mon     Michaella said: "[Tiantian] was in her rhythm. She was playing good from the start and broke me immediately in my first service game, so that was tough.     "Losing the tiebreak was tough. In the second [set], I played my best tennis, I think." Florida Times-Union story #56 Kaia Kanepi EST d #91 q Kateryna Bondarenko UKR 1-6, 6-1, 6-1 Mon *#76 Catalina Castano COL d #58 Elena Vesnina RUS 5-7, 7-3, 6-1 Mon #59 Romina Oprandi ITA d #66 Victoria Azarenka BLR 6-1, 6-1 Tue *#661 sr48 Nuria Llagostera Vives ESP d #61 Vasilisa Bardina RUS 6-2, 6-2 Mon *#96 q Iveta Benesova CZE d #63 Akiko Morigami JPN 6-1, 7-6(4) Tue #69 q Julia Vakulenko UKR d #83 q Julia Schruff GER 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 Mon #71 Virginie Razzano FRA d #78 wc Vania King USA 6-3, 6-4 Mon Although Vania lost, she stuck around for doubles, and sang America the Beautiful for the fans before at the night session on Wednesday

Amelia Island, 2nd Round, Tue-Wed 11am WTA Wed story loser's prize: $3,120 US (2006: $3,370); points: 20 #7 s1 Nadia Petrova RUS d #56 Kaia Kanepi EST 6-4, 6-0 Tue Kaia about to connect with a backhand, and Nadia lining one up & just after contact *#63 Jill Craybas USA d #48 Roberta Vinci ITA 6-3, 2-6, 6-0 Wed #9 s2 Jelena Jankovic SRB d #96 q Iveta Benesova CZE 6-1, 6-2 Wed Jelena firing a mostly flat serve, lefty Iveta serving with a little more twist, and Jelena serving tourney sponsor Heineken's fine product to the press later on Wednesday     Jelena said: "I started well in the first set; the second set was tougher but I finished the match and I'm happy to make it through. I'm comfortable on clay, but I need some time to get used to it. This was my first match on clay. I prefer hard. I hope to get as many matches as possible and get better and better." #12 s3 Daniela Hantuchova SVK d #661 sr48 Nuria Llagostera Vives ESP 6-1, 6-3 Tue Daniela and Nuria launching forehands     5' 1½" Nuria, one of the most petite players in WTA history, had a career-high ranking of # 35 in 2005. She was ranked # 45 when she injured her right wrist in the 1st round at Miami in 2006, and did not play the rest of the year. She has thus been assigned a "special ranking" of # 48 for tourney entry purposes, standard WTA procedure for established players returning from injuries. *#39 Venus Williams USA d #13 s4 Patty Schnyder SUI 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 Wed Patty, who served a 117-mph ace in Cincinnati in 2005, launching a cannonball Venusward, and Venus stepping into a backhand     Patty, who now has a 0-9 career record against Venus, led 3-1 in the 3rd set but could not hold on. Venus said: "Today I played my way back into the match and the tournament. In the first set I was impatient and went for winners too early in the points. Also, I was behind the baseline a bit too much, and my game isn't to be behind the baseline. Just one of those days where I felt I was a little bit off.     "But I started hitting behind [Patty] more and not to the open court as much, which really helped me in the third set. I know I won't hit too many winners on this surface, but I can still hit a lot of forceful shots that I can follow up with winners...     "She's a great player. I knew I was going to have to hit a lot of balls." Florida Times-Union story #14 s5 Dinara Safina RUS d #55 Michaella Krajicek NED 6-4, 7-5 Tue #15 s6 Ana Ivanovic SRB d #40 Shuai Peng CHN 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 Wed *#108 q Karolina Sprem CRO d #17 s7 Na Li CHN 6-3, 6-3 Wed Karolina fielding a drop shot, and Na's forehand drive     Karolina has struggled the past couple of years, at least partially due to illness and injuries. She reached the quarterfinals at Wimbledon in 2004, and later that year attained her career-high ranking of # 17; this is her biggest win since then.     Karolina said: "I'm happy with how I was playing today. I'm happy I played in the qualies because now I have four matches behind me. I like playing on clay and I don't have anything to lose so I'm going on court and playing my game...     "I've had a rough two years, very up and down; but I'm just happy to feel normal on the court again." #19 s8 Tatiana Golovin FRA d #76 Catalina Castano COL 6-0, 6-3 Wed Tatiana serving a cannonball, and Catalina and Tatiana belting backhands #23 s11 Katarina Srebotnik SLO d #69 q Julia Vakulenko UKR 2-6, 6-3, 6-2 Tue #27 s12 Samantha Stosur AUS d #59 Romina Oprandi ITA 7-6(6), 6-2 Wed Romina about to swat a backhand, and Samantha reaching for a forehand #30 s13 Sybille Bammer AUT d #71 Virginie Razzano FRA 6-1, 6-1 Wed Sybille lining up a backhand #32 s15 Jie Zheng CHN d #36 Mara Santangelo ITA 6-3, 6-3 Tue #33 s16 Alona Bondarenko UKR d #84 q Yaroslava Shvedova RUS 5-7, 6-3, 6-2 Wed *#52 Meilen Tu USA d #35 s17 Martina Muller GER 6-3, 6-1 Wed *#44 Nathalie Dechy FRA d #41 Eleni Daniilidou GRE 6-3, 6-4 Wed Eleni's one-handed and Nathalie's two-handed backhands *#150 wc Dominika Cibulkova SVK d #101 q Vera Dushevina RUS 6-1, 6-3 Tue

Amelia Island, 3rd Round, Thu 11am WTA story loser's prize: $6,075 US (2006: $6,575); points: 35 #7 s1 Nadia Petrova RUS d #32 s15 Jie Zheng CHN 6-2, 6-3 Jie serving, and Nadia, apparently fielding a drop shot     Nadia said: "[Jie] wasn't an easy opponent. She had me on the run a lot of times and sometimes came up with unbelievable shots on the full stretch. But I felt much better than I did in my first match, and I'm happy with my win today." #9 s2 Jelena Jankovic SRB d #33 s16 Alona Bondarenko UKR 6-2, 6-0 Jelena following a forehand, and Alona's service toss     Jelena said: "I was aggressive on every shot in the second set. I wasn't going to let [Alona] play her game, and that's exactly what I did...     "I'm starting to feel better and better. I'm healthy, but I want to get my body strong because I tend to get injured a lot."Florida Times-Union story #12 s3 Daniela Hantuchova SVK d #150 wc Dominika Cibulkova SVK 6-1, 6-4 Daniela following a backhand, and Dominika chasing down a forehand #14 s5 Dinara Safina RUS d #23 s11 Katarina Srebotnik SLO 6-3, 6-1 Katerina following a backhand, and Dinara following a forehand #15 s6 Ana Ivanovic SRB d #44 Nathalie Dechy FRA 6-1, 6-1 #19 s8 Tatiana Golovin FRA d #27 s12 Samantha Stosur AUS 6-2, 6-1 #30 s13 Sybille Bammer AUT d #108 q Karolina Sprem CRO 6-2, 6-3 #39 Venus Williams USA d #52 Meilen Tu USA 6-2, 7-5 Meilen and Venus twisting serves at each other     Venus said: "[Meilen] turned up her game nicely; made me hit a lot of balls, got to a lot of balls and stepped up and hit some winners when she had her chance. It was nice to break back each time. After that I really didn't want to let go of my serve at all so I just did what it took. For her, there was a lot of pressure to consolidate those breaks, and that's where I had the advantage."

Amelia Island, QFs, Fri 11am ESPN2-TV & Eurosport at 1pm WTA story loser's prize: $11,885 US (2006: $12,860); points: 70 #7 s1 Nadia Petrova RUS d #14 s5 Dinara Safina RUS 6-4, 7-5 Nadia following a flying forehand, and Dinara after a ground-based backhand     Nadia said: "We were really trying our best, and fought for every single point; we both wanted to win this match really badly...     "It was a really nice crowd today. I really feel like the clay court game is suiting me." *#15 s6 Ana Ivanovic SRB d #9 s2 Jelena Jankovic SRB 7-5, 6-3 Ana delivering a twist serve, and Jelena following a backhand     It was Ana's 7th win over a top-10 player. Ana said: "I was having problems with my serve early on in the match but it really helped me in the end...     "Playing someone from your own country is different; we don't get the opportunity too often. It's a bit emotional but it's important to play your own game and not worry about who's on the other side of the net...     "I'd never played on green clay. It's a bit faster than red clay, but not that much faster."     Jelena said: "I was swinging at the ball, but nothing was going in the court. What can I do? I made so many errors and just wasn't on top of my game.     "I think I played pretty well in the first two rounds, but today was an overall bad day for me. But I wish Ana good luck in the semis." *#30 s13 Sybille Bammer AUT d #12 s3 Daniela Hantuchova SVK 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 Daniela following a serve, Sybille driving a forehand, and after match point     Sybille said: "I wasn't playing well in the first set; after that, I decided to forget about it and just try to play my best in the second and third set. At the end I was a little tight but I was lucky and closed it out. It gives me a lot of confidence to reach the semifinals here." #19 s8 Tatiana Golovin FRA d #39 Venus Williams USA 6-2, 6-3 Tatiana and Venus following backhands     Tatiana said: "It's one of the better matches I've played all season. When [Venus is] in top form she's tough to beat, but she hasn't played too many tournaments so I don't think she was playing at 100%.     "But I put a lot of pressure on her, getting everything back and fighting in the second set. I think she felt I was playing well, so she started going for more and making mistakes. It's a really good win."     Venus said: "I'm definitely disappointed. I was playing pretty well in this tournament and would have loved to win this match, but [Tatiana] just played better today. I had so many errors today it was tough to play against her and me at the same time."

Amelia Island, SFs, Sat 1pm ESPN2-TV & Eurosport loser's prize: $23,150 US (2006: $25,060); points: 125 #7 s1 Nadia Petrova RUS d #30 s13 Sybille Bammer AUT 7-6(4), 6-1 Sybille's service toss, Nadia following a backhand, and after match point     Nadia said: "I didn't feel so fresh-minded after that long match the night before. Physically, I felt OK, but I didn't have that sharpness in my head. I was glad I was able to win in two sets today so I can go home and get to sleep at my normal time." AP story #19 s8 Tatiana Golovin FRA d #15 s6 Ana Ivanovic SRB 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 Ana fielding a backhand, Tatiana following a forehand, and after match point     It was Tatiana's first win over Ana in six meetings. Tatiana said: "The conditions were very, very tough to handle. It was windy and it was really cold out there. I was proud of myself because I was able to keep at it. We both could have played better...     "I was up on [Ana] at 5-1 in a tournament at Zurich and she came back to win. She was hitting some amazing shots out there. I just had to keep at it and keep the pressure on her. I think I just really wanted to win more than her today. I'm just glad I finally got a win over her."     Ana held break points against Tatiana the first four times she served in the 3rd set. Ana said: "I had chances in all of those games, but [Tatiana] served very well today, and played some very good points in some deciding moments, which obviously was a key today."

Amelia Island, Final, Sun 1pm ESPN2-TV & Eurosport loser's prize: $45,180 US (2006: $48,900); points: 190 winner's prize: $88,260 US (2006: $95,500); points: 275 *#19 s8 Tatiana Golovin FRA d #7 s1 Nadia Petrova RUS 6-2, 6-1 Tatiana launching a serve Nadiaward, Nadia following a forehand, and Tatiana driving a backhand

Amelia Island, Doubles Final, Sun after singles loser's prize: $14,270 US (2006: $15,440) winner's prize: $27,730 US (2006: $30,000) cdr58 Mara Santangelo & Katarina Srebotnik d cdr36 s4 Anabel Medina Garrigues & Virginia Ruano Pascual 6-3, 7-6(4) Katarina and Mara after match point     Katarina and Mara, who were playing as a team for the first time, defeated top seeds Cara Black and Lizel Huber in the semis. It was Katarina's 15th WTA doubles title, and Mara's 3rd.     Katarina said: "We didn't really know what to expect, but the outcome was great. We had two unbelievably tough wins, which gave us a lot of confidence, and really we knew we could beat the best teams. We just stayed positive."     Mara said: "I did my best; I'm very happy to play with Katarina and I'm very happy to win." Amelia Island, Qual Finals, Sun Apr 1 10am losers' prizes: q1: $425; q2: $815 US (2006: $885); qualifier points: 10 #69 Julia Vakulenko UKR d #88 Yuliana Fedak UKR 6-2, 6-3 *#96 Iveta Benesova CZE d #77 Tiantian Sun CHN 6-2, 7-6(4) #81 Virginia Ruano Pascual ESP d #518 Alexa Glatch USA 6-4, 6-2 #83 Julia Schruff GER d #101 Tamira Paszek AUT 7-5, 3-6, 7-6(5) #84 Yaroslava Shvedova RUS d #89 Ekaterina Bychkova RUS 6-2, 6-4 *#91 Kateryna Bondarenko UKR d #85 Varvara Lepchenko UZB 6-3, 7-6(3) *#101 Vera Dushevina RUS d #98 Jelena Kostanic Tosic CRO 6-3, 6-1 *#108 Karolina Sprem CRO d #105 Aleksandra Wozniak CAN 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(5) Amelia Island, Withdrawals #4 Amelie Mauresmo FRA appendectomy #16 Shahar Peer ISR left plantar fasciitis (heel spur) #20 s9 Vera Zvonareva RUS upper respiratory illness #26 Lucie Safarova CZE influenza #28 Anna-Lena Groenefeld GER personal reasons #37 Olga Poutchkova RUS low back injury #47 Mirza Sania IND r knee anterior cruciate ligament #53 Maria Elena Camerin ITA

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