WTA Aug 18-24 Pilot Pen Open, New Haven, CT Tier II $600,000 28 players - outdoor: hard +ATP Live Scores WTA pdf: draws & OOP - notes pics: HC - Yahoo - CBS - WTA NH Register: Pilot Pen - PPT blog Hartford Courant: Pilot Pen New Haven: radar - forecast # , # # , # WTA Classic Forest Hills, NY Tier IV $74,800 16 players - outdoor: hard West Side Tennis Club WTA pdf: draws & OOP pics: WTA Forest Hills: radar - forecast # , # # , #

Tourney pages: New Haven & Forest Hills: 2007 - 2006 - 2005 - 2004   New Haven: 2003 previous other tourney pages next New Haven 2007: #5 Svetlana Kuznetsova 5' 8½", 161 lbs, RH 2H-BH New Haven 2007: #39 Agnes Szavay 5' 7", 139 lbs, RH 2H-BH Acapulco, 2006: #49 Gisela Dulko 5' 7", 123½ lbs, RH 2H-BH

    The New Haven and Forest Hills draws are not yet available as of this writing (qualifying draws are usually up on the Friday before the tourney begins, main draws on Saturday, sometimes later). The links are above for your convenience when the draws become available.

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New Haven, 2007:
    On Saturday in New Haven, in the final of the Pilot Pen Open, the 2004 US Open champion, 22-year-old top-seeded # 5 Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia (who recently changed her residence to tax-free Monte Carlo, Monaco) defeated upwardly-mobile 18-year-old qualifier # 39 Agnes Szavay from Budapest, Hungary, 4-6, 3-0 retired when Agnes could no longer continue due to a low back strain (Svetlana is shown during the final, and Agnes--after cheering up a bit--with Svetlana and the glassware after the match).
    Because Agnes had gone through qualifying, she was playing in her 8th match in 9 days. Her back had been troubling her all week, and she had withdrawn from her doubles quarterfinal earlier in the week due to the injury.

    Agnes said: "Every point it was getting worse and it was just really painful. I felt it when I started playing in the main draw, but at the beginning it was just a little muscle pain and nothing serious. Day by day, it just got worse and worse...
    "Svetlana is a very nice girl - she always makes me smile. She told me she was sorry about it, that she was not happy she won in this way. She's really nice." WTA story
    Svetlana said: "When I saw the she was calling for the physio I was like, 'Please no, not now.' I really feel sorry for [Agnes]. The US Open is coming and it's an important tournament and she's playing very well. Hopefully she can recover."

    It was the third consecutive match which Svetlana has won the unfun way, possibly the first and hopefully the last time this will ever occur. Sveta's quarterfinal opponent, Francesca Schiavone, retired from their match with an ankle injury; in the semis Sveta advanced when her compatriot Elena Dementieva retired due to nausea from gastrointestinal illness.

    Sveta and Agnes had never before met on the field of combat. Agnes was playing in her first-ever Tier II final; she won her first WTA singles title one month ago in Palermo, a Tier IV tourney.
    Svetlana is now 9-11 in WTA singles finals; this is her first title since March of last year at the Tier I Key Biscayne (Miami) tourney. Svetlana now has a 42-13 match record for 2007.
    Agnes is now 1-1 in WTA singles finals; her rank will rise to a career-high # 31 on Monday. Agnes has a 45-12 record for 2007, earned the hard way: 20 of those wins were in qualifying rounds, and 5 in an ITF tourney at Zagreb, which she won.

Forest Hills, 2007:
    In the Forest Hills final on Saturday, 22-year-old 3rd-seeded # 49 Gisela Dulko from Buenos Aires, Argentina handily defeated 24-year-old top-seeded # 45 Virginie Razzano from Nimes, France, 6-2, 6-2 (Gisela is shown being pretty on the beach at Acapulco last year)

    Gisela and Virginie had played only once before, in a quarterfinal on red clay in Estoril, Portugal in 2003, when Virginie won, 7-6(4), 6-4.
    Gisela said: "I never thought it would be this good a result against [Virginie]. I played a really good match today. I served well and mixed it up from the baseline. It was very hot and humid and it was difficult to play, but I think I stayed very focused and positive, and in the end it went my way." WTA story

    Gisela is now 2-2 in WTA singles finals; she won her other title earlier this year in Budapest. Gisela has a 23-19 record for 2007.
    Virginie is now 0-2 in WTA singles finals; she reached her other final at Tashkent in 2004. Virginie has a 31-19 record for 2007.

New Haven player's blog by Lisa Raymond

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WTA SCOREBOARD: New Haven & Forest Hills s=seed, #=rank, *=upset, LL=lucky loser ranks are for the previous week How do players get into the "draw"? The Pilot Pen Open  New Haven, Connecticut       The time at New Haven is UCT (GMT, Zulu...) -6 hours (=US Eastern Daylight Time, PDT +3). Connecticut news     NWS weather radar     New Haven current conditions     New Haven: The main draw for New Haven has 8 seeds, with 4 1st-round byes.     There are 4 qualifiers and 3 wild cards in the main draw.     Qualifying finals are on Sunday--and main draw play begins on Sunday.     click for broader view   Yale University tennis courts, New Haven, CT Lat.: 41.311203 Lon.: -72.959561 goto link for World Wind Yale University interactive campus map 2007: On Tuesday, Aug 20 in New Haven, top seeded Svetlana Kuznetsova visited the Sony Ericsson Club at Yale Univerity's Connecticut Tennis Center... On Monday, Marion Bartoli, Dinara Safina, and Daniela Hantuchova met the press and signed autographs during and after the All Access Hour

New Haven, 1st Rd, Sun-Tue 10am losers' prize: $4,175 US; points: 1

New Haven, 2nd Rd, Tue-Wed 10am losers' prize: $7,820 US; points: 35

New Haven, QFs, Thu 10am losers' prize: $14,600 US; points: 70

New Haven, SFs, Fri 10am losers' prize: $27,300 US; points: 125

New Haven, Final, Sat 1pm loser's prize: $51,000 US; points: 190 winner's prize: $95,500 US; points: 275

New Haven, Doubles Final, Sat eve losers' prize: $16,120 US winners' prize: $30,000 US New Haven, Qual Finals, Sun Aug 17 10am losers' prizes: q1 $640 1pt; q2 $1,195 3pts; q3 $2,230 10pts; qualifier 15 points New Haven, Withdrawals

The WTA Classic  Forest Hills, New York       The time at Forest Hills is UCT (GMT, Zulu...) -6 hours (=US Eastern Daylight Time, PDT +3). New York City news     NWS weather radar     Forest Hills current conditions     Forest Hills: The main draw for Forest Hills has 4 seeds, with no 1st-round byes.     There is 1 wild card in the main draw.     There are no qualifying rounds, and no doubles.     click for broader view   West Side Tennis Club, Forest Hills, NY Lat.: 40.719583 Lon.: -73.848445 goto link for World Wind WTA Classic venue address: West Side Tennis Club, 1 Tennis Place, Forest Hills, NY 11375     Admission to the Forest Hills tourney is free on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday & Friday; they charge $10 to see the final on Saturday. There is no qualifying and no doubles. Play at Forest Hills begins on Tuesday, August 19.

Forest Hills, 1st Rd, Tue-Wed 10am losers' prize: $1,825 US; points: 1

Forest Hills, QFs, Thu 10am losers' prize: $3,400 US; points: 30

Forest Hills, SFs, Fri 2pm losers' prize: $6,300 US; points: 50

Forest Hills, Final, Sat 1pm loser's prize: $12,000 US; points: 80 winner's prize: $22,000 US; points: 115

Forest Hills, Withdrawals

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

Current WTA Results & Tennis News (tennis home page) - 2008 WTA Schedule with links & photos

Link to many postmatch interview & match highlight videos of WTA players at the 2008 WTA Player Videos page.

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