WTA Oct 8-14 Kremlin Cup, Moscow, Russia Tier I $1,340,000 +ATP 28 players - indoor: supreme Live Scores - in popup window WTA pdf: draws & OOP - notes pics: Yahoo - tourney - WTA Moscow: weather - map Gazeta.ru: Tennis (Russian) English # 2 S Kuznetsova, # 4 M Sharapova # 6 A Chakvetadze, # 7 S Williams Thailand Open, Bangkok Tier III $200,000 32 players - outdoor: hard Rama Gardens Hotel Live Scores - in popup window WTA pdf: draws & OOP - notes pics: Yahoo - WTA Bangkok: weather - map # 3 J Jankovic, # 8 V Williams # 16 S Peer, # 33 V Razzano

Tourney pages: Moscow & Bangkok: 2006 - 2005 Moscow: 2004 - 2003 previous other tourney pages next Bangkok: #53 Flavia Pennetta 5' 7¾" 128lb RH 2H-BH Moscow: #15 Elena Dementieva 5' 11" 141lb RH 2H-BH

    On Sunday in Moscow, in the final of the Kremlin Cup, a local resident, 26-years-old-on-Monday unseeded # 15 Elena Dementieva of Russia, defeated 26-year-old 4th-seeded # 7 Serena Williams from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 (Elena is shown with the hardware after the match). It was Elena's first win over Serena in five career matches, but their last two matches were very close--and they had not played each other in almost three years.

    Serena hit 59 unforced errors, Elena 31 (including 8 double faults). Elena won 68% of her 1st serve points and 37% of her 2nd serve points (Serena: 59% and 20%). match stats

    Elena said: "It was a very difficult match to play, and it was tough for me to find my game, but I knew I had nothing to lose. We had a tough first set, and then right at the beginning of the second set I broke [Serena], and that's when I felt I was starting to pushing her. I didn't want to give up and I was fighting for every point. I think in the third set she started getting a little tired maybe." WTA story

    Serena said: "I made a lot of errors; every ball I hit I felt was going out, and so it was really frustrating. I'm not going to make excuses though--it wasn't the court or anything else--it was me. I thought [Elena] played unbelievably. I think she should play like that more often."

    Elena, who reached the Kremlin Cup final in 2001 (and lost to Jelena Dokic) and 2004 (and lost to Anastasia Myskina), is now 8-11 in WTA singles finals, and has a 41-17 match record this year.
    2007 Aussie Open champ Serena is now 28-11 in WTA singles finals, and has a 35-8 match record for the year.

    Elena's usual doubles partner was in Bangkok, 4396 miles away. In the final of the Thailand Open, 25-year-old 7th-seeded # 53 Flavia Pennetta of Italy (residence: Verbier, Switzerland), defeated 18-year-old # 75 Yung-Jan Chan from Taipei, Taiwan, 6-1, 6-3 (Flavia is shown with the glassware after the match).

    Former # 16 Flavia injured her left wrist (requiring surgery) last year, and her rank plummeted in the interim. After her wrist injury, it took Flavia months to recover her previous form: Flavia now has a 36-26 match record in 2007--she was 23-23 before the US Open, and has had a 13-3 record since. Flavia is now 4-6 in previous WTA singles finals; all three of her previous titles were won on red clay.

    Rain stopped play for over four hours just after the beginning of the 2nd set. Flavia said: "You have to be very focused in finals, so it's always tough to go on and off the court like that, but I just kept thinking about [Yung-Jan] and how she was playing, so that was okay. I'm very happy I won the title. I didn't expect to win here. I had to play two great players, Peer and Williams, and hardcourts aren't my favorite surface, so this is a very important victory for me." WTA story

    Flavia & Yung-Jan had never before met on the field of combat. Yung-Jan was playing in her first WTA singles final; she has won 4 WTA doubles titles and 12 ITF singles titles, and has a 28-17 match record for 2007.

    Yung-Jan said: "[Flavia] wasn't making any mistakes and was hitting pretty hard. I think she deserved it today."

    In the Bangkok semis on Saturday, Flavia won one of the biggest victories of her career, defeating 27-year-old 2nd-seeded # 8 (and former # 1) Venus Williams from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida (who was also sidelined by left wrist problems for much of 2006), 6-4, 7-6(8) (photo shown).
    After the match, Flavia said: "I have to be honest, I am very happy with the match today. I think it is one of the most beautiful wins of my career."
    Venus said: "[Flavia] did a great job of staying in the match and staying in the point." AFP story

WTA SCOREBOARD: Moscow & Bangkok s=seed, #=rank, *=upset, LL=lucky loser ranks are for the previous week How do players get into the "draw"? Kremlin Cup,  Moscow, Russia   Plan your trip Local Radar Detailed Forecast     Moscow: The main draw for Moscow has 8 seeds, with 4 1st-round byes. There are 4 qualifiers in the main draw.     Qualifying (3 rounds) starts on Saturday, qualifying finals are on Monday.     Olympisky Stadium, Moscow, RUS - click for sat pic Latitude: 55.782027 Longitude: 37.626286 goto link for World Wind     Daylight savings time in Moscow is UCT (GMT, Zulu, Greenwich...) plus 4 hours. That is Eastern Daylight Time in the US + 8 hours, PDT+11 hours. Moscow news 2007: Svetlana Kuznetsova, Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams, accompanied by Fido and, uh, Spot (not their real names), and Anna Chakvetadze met the press in Moscow on Monday... Also on Monday, Serena, minus canines, was interviewed for Russia's NTV+ by former WTA # 2 Anastasia Myskina (currently sidelined by a bad foot injury)... On Wednesday, former WTA # 25 Lina Krasnoroutskaya, also working for NTV+, interviewed Vera Zvonareva after her win over Amelie Mauresmo...

Moscow, 1st Rd, Mon-Wed 11am loser: $8,120 US (2006: $8,790); 1 point #11 s5 Marion Bartoli FRA d #25 Alona Bondarenko UKR 6-2, 7-5 Mon *#24 Vera Zvonareva RUS d #12 s6 Amelie Mauresmo FRA 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 Wed Amelie's forehand, and two views of Vera driving backhands     It was Vera's first win over Amelie, whom she has lost to seven times. #13 s7 Patty Schnyder SUI d #43 Emilie Loit FRA 6-4, 6-1 Mon Lefty Emilie fielding a forehand, and lefty Patty driving one #14 s8 Nicole Vaidisova CZE d #91 q Yaroslava Shvedova RUS 7-6(3), 6-3 Tue Yaroslava serving, and Nicole's forehand drive #15 Elena Dementieva RUS d #74 q Alicia Molik AUS 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 Tue Elena's service toss, and Alicia driving a backhand #17 Dinara Safina RUS d #50 Martina Muller GER 6-1, 6-3 Wed *#35 Victoria Azarenka BLR d #21 Sybille Bammer AUT 6-3, 6-4 Tue *#36 Agnieszka Radwanska POL d #26 Maria Kirilenko RUS 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 Tue Agnieszka waiting to wallop a backhand, and Maria starting her swing at one *#40 Gisela Dulko ARG d #29 Sania Mirza IND 6-3, 6-4 Tue *#130 q Tatiana Perebiynis UKR d #31 Michaella Krajicek NED 6-4, 1-6, 7-5 Tue *#44 wc Vera Dushevina RUS d #39 Eleni Daniilidou GRE 7-5, 6-1 Mon Vera's service toss, her backhand drive, and Vera after the match, applying her Ivana Henryova to Kremlin Cup posters for fans #61 wc Elena Vesnina RUS d #124 q Emmanuelle Gagliardi SUI 6-2, 6-4 Tue Elena's backhand drive, and Emmanuelle reaching for a forehand

Moscow, 2nd Rd, Wed-Thu 11am loser: $15,130 US (2006: $16,370); 60 points #2 s1 Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS d #40 Gisela Dulko ARG 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 Wed Svetlana's forehand drive, and Gisela's backhand *#35 Victoria Azarenka BLR d #4 s2 wc Maria Sharapova RUS 7-6(9), 6-2 Wed Victoria's forehand, and Maria driving a backhand     Maria led 5-3, 40-0 in the 1st set, after which Victoria fended off Maria's three set points (and three more in the tiebreaker) and won 10 of the next 13 games to take the match. Maria has been having a great deal of trouble a right shoulder injury, and it may be that she was not yet ready to return to play: she made 45 unforced errors including seven double faults. Sky Sports story *#17 Dinara Safina RUS d #6 s3 Anna Chakvetadze RUS 7-6(6), 6-2 Thu Anna and Dinara driving forehands #7 s4 Serena Williams USA d #130 q Tatiana Perebiynis UKR 7-5, 6-4 Thu Serena and Tatiana preparing to fire forehands *#44 wc Vera Dushevina RUS d #11 s5 Marion Bartoli FRA 2-6, 6-0, 6-4 Wed *#15 Elena Dementieva RUS d #13 s7 Patty Schnyder SUI 6-3, 6-4 Wed After the match (which evened Elena's record against Patty at 7-7), Elena was interviewed for Russki TV by her friend (and fellow graduate of Moscow's Spartak Academy tennis school), 2004 French Open champ Anastasia Myskina #14 s8 Nicole Vaidisova CZE d #61 wc Elena Vesnina RUS 6-3, 6-4 Thu #24 Vera Zvonareva RUS d #36 Agnieszka Radwanska POL 6-2, 6-2 Thu Vera twisting a serve, and Agnieszka fielding a backhand

Moscow, QFs, Fri 11am WTA story loser: $28,175 US (2006: $30,485); 110 points #2 s1 Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS d #44 wc Vera Dushevina RUS 6-2, 6-2 Vera reaching for a forehand, and Svetlana's backhand #7 s4 Serena Williams USA d #14 s8 Nicole Vaidisova CZE 6-4, 7-6(7) Nicole and Serena driving forehands #15 Elena Dementieva RUS d #35 Victoria Azarenka BLR 7-6(4), 6-2 Victoria and Elena driving forehand and backhand #17 Dinara Safina RUS d #24 Vera Zvonareva RUS 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 Dinara about to swat a forehand, and Vera launching one on the run

Moscow, SFs, Sat 1pm WTA story loser: $52,500 US (2006: $56,800); 195 points *#7 s4 Serena Williams USA d #2 s1 Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS 7-6(2), 6-1 Svetlana's forehand, Serena's backhand, and Svetlana congratuating Serena after match point #15 Elena Dementieva RUS d #17 Dinara Safina RUS 6-1, 6-0 Elena driving a forehand, and Dinara & Elena's backhands     Although Elena struck 9 double faults, she converted 7 of 8 break point opportunities, while Dinara converted only 1 of 7 break points against Elena.     Elena said: "It seemed easy from the score but it wasn't. We fought for a lot of the games and it was not an easy match. I'm very satisfied with how I was playing today and I'm glad I could save some energy for tomorrow's final."

Moscow, Final, Sun 1:30pm loser: $97,800 US (2006: $105,800); 300 points winner: $182,000 US (2006: $196,900); 430 points *#15 Elena Dementieva RUS d #7 s4 Serena Williams USA 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 Elena's forehand drive, Serena following one, and Elena after match point

Moscow, Doubles Final, Sun losers' prize: $29,350 (2006: $31,750) US winners' prize: $54,540 (2006: $59,000) US cdr3 s1 Cara Black & Liezel Huber d cdr108 Victoria Azarenka & Tatiana Poutchek 4-6, 6-1, (10-7) Moscow, Qual Finals, Mon Oct 8 11am q1: $1,260, 1pt; q2: $2,345, 10pts; q3: $4,365 US, 15pts (2006: $4,270) qualifier: 20 points #74 Alicia Molik AUS d #157 Evgeniya Rodina RUS 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 #91 Yaroslava Shvedova RUS d #291 Oxana Lyubtsova UKR 6-1, 5-7, 6-2 #124 Emmanuelle Gagliardi SUI d #168 Alina Jidkova RUS 6-2, 6-2 *#130 Tatiana Perebiynis UKR d #132 Galina Voskoboeva RUS 6-0, 2-6, 6-4 Moscow, Withdrawals #1 Justine Henin BEL right shoulder #22 Lucie Safarova CZE illness #28 Francesca Schiavone ITA right foot #34 Mara Santangelo ITA left foot #45 Meilen Tu USA acute neck injury #318 sr14  Elena Bovina RUS left ankle

PTT Thailand Open,  Bangkok, Thailand   Plan your trip Local Radar Detailed Forecast     Bangkok: The main draw for Bangkok has 8 seeds., with NO 1st-round byes. There are 4 qualifiers in the main draw.     Qualifying (3 rounds) starts on Saturday, qualifying finals are on Monday.     Rama Gardens Hotel, Bangkok, THA - click for sat pic Latitude: 13.858674 Longitude: 100.570951 goto link for World Wind     The time in Bangkok is UCT (GMT, Zulu, Greenwich...) plus 7 hours. That is Eastern Daylight Time in the US + 11 hours, PDT+14 hours. Thailand news 2007: Sorana Cirstea & Urszula Radwanska did the player rep thing at the Bangkok draw on Sunday; darned good looking healthy young ladies at Sunday's player party included Thai # 1 Tammy Tanasugarn, Catalina Castano & Camille Pin, Klara (Koukalova) Zakopalova, Caroline Wozniacki & Urszula Radwanska, Nuria Llagostera Vives & Arantxa Parra Santonja, Elena Baltacha, and Anne Kremer... On Tuesday, top seed Jelena Jankovic arrived at the Bangkok airport, and 2nd seed Venus Williams took a break while practicing... On Wednesday, players including Dominika Cibulkova and Virginie Razzano promoted tree-planting to stop global warming...

Bangkok, 1st Rd, Mon-Wed 3pm losers' prize: $1,225 (2006: $1,325) US; points: 1 *#66 Zi Yan CHN d #3 s1 Jelena Jankovic SRB 4-6, 7-6(4), 30-0 retired-- heat illness Wed Zi about to swat a 2-handed forehand with backhand grip (similar to Marion Bartoli's style), and Jelena's backhand drive     Jelena called for the trainer at the end of the 2nd set. She served to begin the 3rd set, but after losing the first two points, retired from the match.     Jelena said: "I arrived yesterday and didn't sleep last night. I played indoors last week and it was cold in Germany, so it was a drastic change for me. My body couldn't take it. During the court call, the doctor asked me to stop the match... I'm really disappointed as this was my first time in Bangkok." AP story #8 s2 Venus Williams USA d #73 Caroline Wozniacki DEN 6-2, 6-2 Wed-rain-Thu #16 s3 Shahar Peer ISR d #126 Melinda Czink HUN 7-6(3), 6-4 Tue Shahar after match point #33 s4 Virginie Razzano FRA d #67 Lourdes Dominguez Lino ESP 6-0, 6-3 Tue #47 s5 Dominika Cibulkova SVK d #95 q Maria Emilia Salerni ARG 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 Tue *#68 Klara Zakopalova CZE d #52 s6 Aiko Nakamura JPN 6-4, 7-6(5) Tue #53 s7 Flavia Pennetta ITA d #566 wc Noppawan Leertcheewakarn THA 6-0, 6-2 Tue Flavia after match point *#117 Aleksandra Wozniak CAN d #60 s8 Iona Raluca Olaru ROU 7-5, 6-4 Mon #71 Anastasia Rodionova RUS d #102 q Akgul Amanmuradova UZB 6-4, 6-3 Tue #75 Yung-Jan Chan TPE d #347 q Magdalena Rybarikova SVK 6-3, 6-3 Wed #78 Camille Pin FRA d #101 Jelena Kostanic Tosic CRO 7-5, retired--     right thoracic spine injury Mon *#86 Tamarine Tanasugarn THA d #81 Edina Gallovits ROU 7-5, 3-1 retired Tue Tammy's backhand, and Edina driving a forehand *#84 Casey Dellacqua AUS d #82 Severine Bremond FRA 6-2, 6-4 Mon #83 Olga Poutchkova RUS d #92 q Anne Kremer LUX 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 Tue #88 Vania King USA d #97 Jill Craybas USA 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 Wed Vania's forehand drive, and Jill's backhand *#543 wc Urszula Radwanska POL d #111 wc Sorana Cirstea ROU 6-0, 6-3 Mon

Bangkok, 2nd Rd, Wed-Thu 1pm losers' prize: $2,295 (2006: $2,485) US; points: 20 #8 s2 Venus Williams USA d #86 Tamarine Tanasugarn THA 6-4, 6-1 Thu Venus driving a forehand, and Tammy's backhand #16 s3 Shahar Peer ISR d #71 Anastasia Rodionova RUS 6-1, 6-1 Thu Anastasia and Shahar driving backhands *#543 wc Urszula Radwanska POL d #33 s4 Virginie Razzano FRA 7-6(3), 7-5 Thu #88 Vania King USA d #47 s5 Dominika Cibulkova SVK 6(8)-7, 7-6(6), 7-6(4) Thu-rain-Fri *#78 Camille Pin FRA d #68 Klara Zakopalova CZE 6-3, 7-6(1) Wed #53 s7 Flavia Pennetta ITA d #84 Casey Dellacqua AUS 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 Wed #66 Zi Yan CHN d #83 Olga Poutchkova RUS 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 Thu Olga's forehand drive, and Zi's backhand #75 Yung-Jan Chan TPE d #117 Aleksandra Wozniak CAN 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 Thu

Bangkok, QFs, Fri 3pm WTA story losers' prize: $4,300 (2006: $4,660) US; points: 35 #8 s2 Venus Williams USA v #78 Camille Pin FRA 6-1, 6-1 Camille and Venus driving backhands #53 s7 Flavia Pennetta ITA d #16 s3 Shahar Peer ISR 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 Flavia's forehand drive, Shahar's backhand, and Flavia after match point     This was former # 16 Flavia's biggest victory since she injured her left wrist (requiring surgery) last year. After the injury, Flavia had a great deal of trouble recovering her previous form: Flavia has a 34-26 match record in 2007--she was 23-23 before the US Open, and has had a 11-3 record since.     In the Bangkok semis on Saturday, Flavia will face another player who has had left wrist problems, Venus Williams. They have played only once before, in the semis two weeks ago in Seoul, when Venus won, 6-2, 6-2. *#66 Zi Yan CHN d #88 Vania King USA walkover-- right lower back injury #75 Yung-Jan Chan TPE d #543 wc Urszula Radwanska POL 6-2, 6-3 Urszula's forehand, Yung-Jan driving a backhand, and after match point

Bangkok, SFs, Sat 3pm WTA story losers' prize: $8,080 (2006: $8,750) US; points: 65 *#53 s7 Flavia Pennetta ITA d #8 s2 Venus Williams USA 6-4, 7-6(8) Flavia's forehand, Venus driving a backhand, and Flavia after match point     Flavia said: "I have to be honest, I am very happy with the match today. I think it is one of the most beautiful wins of my career... My serve was working great and it helped me by giving me many easy points which put pressure on [Venus]. I tired to stay relaxed throughout, play it one point at a time and even when it got tight in the second set I managed to come through." AFP story     Venus said: "[Flavia] did a great job of staying in the match and staying in the point." *#75 Yung-Jan Chan TPE d #66 Zi Yan CHN 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 Zi and Yung-Jan driving backhands, and Yung-Jan after match point

Bangkok, Final, Sun 3pm loser's prize: $15,150 (2006: $16,400) US; points: 100 winner's prize: $28,161 (2006: $30,500) US; points: 140 #53 s7 Flavia Pennetta ITA d #75 Yung-Jan Chan TPE 6-1, 6-3 Flavia driving a forehand, Yung-Jan driving a backhand, and Flavia about to slice one

Bangkok, Doubles Final, Sun after singles losers' prize: $ (2006: $4,850) US winners' prize: $ (2006: $9,100) US cdr33 s1 Zi Yan & Tiantian Sun d cdr351 Ayumi Morita & Junri Namigata walkover-- Morita: gastrointestinal illness Tiantian slicing her 26th birthday cake on Saturday, and Zi and Tiantian with the glassware on Sunday Bangkok, Qual Finals, Mon Oct 8 3pm losers' prizes: q1 $185, 1pt; q2 $350 3pts; q final $655 US (2006: $700), 4pts; qualifier: 8 points #92 Anne Kremer LUX d #173 Anda Perianu ROU 6-2, 2-6, 6-2 #95 Maria Emilia Salerni ARG d #127 Yuliana Fedak UKR 5-7, 6-2, 6-2 #102 Akgul Amanmuradova UZB d #131 Meng Yuan CHN 7-5, 6-3 *#347 Magdalena Rybarikova SVK d #287 Kelly Liggan IRL 6-1, 2-6, 7-6(3) Bangkok, Withdrawals #20 Agnes Szavay HUN left thigh injury? #35 Victoria Azarenka BLR Moscow #49 Meghann Shaughnessy USA left knee injury? #51 Akiko Morigami JPN shoulder injury #55 Olga Govortsova BLR #72 Alla Kudryavtseva RUS #80 Lilia Osterloh USA #322 sr Jamea Jackson USA

    (Oct 4, 2007) Maria Sharapova accepted a wild card entry into next week's Kremlin Cup in Moscow. Tourney executive director Alexander Katsnelson said: "Maria has asked for a wildcard. She said she's feeling fine and is ready to play." # 7 Serena Williams has also received a late-entry wild card.

See also: QuickShop: Sporting Goods - Martina Hingis - Anna Kournikova

Current WTA Results & Tennis News (tennis home page) - 2007 WTA Schedule with links & photos

Link to hundreds of postmatch interview videos of WTA players at the 2007 WTA Player Interviews page.

WTA PhotoRankings: the current top 20 Women's Tennis rankings with player photos, links, and bio info.