WTA Apr 13-19: Charleston & Barcelona Family Circle Cup, Charleston, SC PREMIER $1,000,000 56m/32q/16d outdoor: green clay Har-Tru Live Scores WTA pdf.: draws & OOP - notes tourn.: draws - OOP - interviews pics: Y!: sports - news | tourney - WTA Post & Courier: Sports free reg Charleston: radar - forecast # , # # , # Barcelona KIA Barcelona, ESP David Lloyd Club Turó INTL $220,000 32m/32q/16d outdoor: red clay Live Scores WTA .pdf: draws & OOP pics: Y!: sports - news | WTA Barcelona: radar - forecast # , # # , #

Charleston: 2008 - 2007 - 2006 - 2005 - 2004   Barcelona: 2008 - 2007 previous other tourney pages next Barcelona 2008: #23 Maria Kirilenko 5'8" 127lb RH 2H-BH Charleston 2008: #9 Serena Williams 5'9" 135lb RH 2H-BH

    The Charleston & Barcelona 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.

Serena Final - Former Champs, 35th Anniv - Sat SFs - Fri QFs - Thu 3rd Rd Estoril: Maria K Final - Meet Flavia Pennetta

Charleston, 2008:     On Sunday in Charleston, South Carolina, in the final of the 35th Family Circle Cup, 26-year-old 5th-seeded # 9 Serena Williams from Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, defeated 9th-seeded 23-year-old # 14 Vera Zvonareva from Moscow, Russia, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 (Serena is shown after match point).     Serena converted only 3 of 12 break points she held against Vera, but it was enough. Vera converted 100% of her break points against Serena--but she held only 2. Vera struck 3 aces while suffering from 8 double faults; Serena fired 10 aces, with only 2 DFs.     Serena's prize is $196,900; Vera's, $100,000.     Serena said: "I felt like I was making a lot of errors today and needed to relax, more than I did my other matches. I felt if I could just make some more shots I'd be fine. I started making some, buckled down and just did what I needed to do." WTA story     Vera said: "[Serena] can come up with the big shots at the key moments, and that's what she did today.

    "She never made a mistake when I was up, and she didn't give me any chances. I could have done a much better job holding serve, which I wasn't able to do at the right time, but the match was really even."

    Serena now leads Vera 5-1 in career matches, and also won the last time they played, in the 3rd round of last year's US Open, 6-4 7-6(4). Vera's win came in their previous meeting, in the Cincinnati semis in 2006, 6-2, 6-3.
    Serena is now 31-ll in WTA singles finals (eight of her titles were in Grand Slam tourneys); she also won the titles at her last two tourneys, in Bangalore & Miami, and has a 19-1 match record in 2008.
    Vera is now 5-8 in WTA singles finals. She reached a career-high rank of # 9 in 2004, but has been sidelined off and on by a left wrist injury since then. Vera has not won a title since Cincinnati in 2006; the day after she defeated Serena in the semis there. Vera now has a 24-7 match record in 2008.

  Barcelona, 2008:

    On Sunday in Barcelona, Spain, in the final of the Barcelona KIA, 21-year-old 2nd-seeded # 23 Maria Kirilenko from Moscow, Russia, handily defeated a local resident, 25-year-old # 145 Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez of Spain, 6-0, 6-2 (Maria is shown after match point). Maria's prize is $22,900; Maria Jose's, $12,345. Maria also received another prize: the win raised her WTA singles ranking to # 19, the highest of her career.

    Maria and Maria Jose had played only once before, in an ITF tourney on red clay in Galatina, Italy, in 2003, when Maria Jose won, 6-3, 6-2.

    Maria said: "I played [Maria Jose] once when I was 18, and that time she beat me so easily with her slices, spins and drop shots. I'm more experienced now so I was able to adapt to her game. But she had a great week; she was injured for a while and is now on her way back, and she's playing really well. It's great she made her first final here...
    "Today I concentrated really well and kept any negative emotions inside. I played consistently and saw everything quite clearly. I feel great...
    "Now I'm off to 's-Hertogenbosch. I play my first match on Tuesday, so I'll have a day off now to recover from this week. I'm really focusing on Wimbledon and I hope I can get some good practice on grass this week." WTA story

    Maria is now 4-2 in WTA singles finals, she won her 3rd title in April in Estoril, Portugal. Maria has a 21-10 match record this year.
    Maria Jose was playing in her first WTA singles final, but she is no rookie. She has won 5 WTA doubles titles, and 12 singles and 22 doubles titles in ITF play. Her career-high ranking was # 69 in 2001. Maria Jose now has a 26-13 match record for 2008.

    A New York Times story describing Barcelona in 1893 can be read at Spain News and Links page.

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WTA SCOREBOARD: Charleston & Barcelona s=seed, #=rank, *=upset, LL=lucky loser ranks are for the previous week How do players get into the "draw"? The Family Circle Cup  Charleston, South Carolina   NWS weather radar tourney time:        = GMT -4 hours        = US EDT        = US PDT +3 hours Weather Forecast | Weather Maps | Weather Radar   click for broader view   Family Circle Tennis Center on Daniel Island Latitude: 32.862241 Long.: -79.902041 goto link for World Wind     Charleston: The 56 player main draw for Charleston 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.     The Family Circle Cup is the longest-running WTA-only Tier I event in the US. The tourney was held at Hilton Head until the Family Circle Tennis Center was opened in the spring of 2001. A 32-acre facility with a 10,200 seat stadium, the Family Circle Tennis Center has 13 green clay (Har-Tru) and 4 hard courts, all lighted for night play. A 10,000 square foot clubhouse also serves as the corporate headquarters for the Family Circle Cup. The FCTC was built with public help at a cost of $15 million. 2008: row 1: On Monday, April 14, last week's champ at Amelia Island, Maria Sharapova, and Patty Schnyder, a finalist at Charleston in 2002 & '06, and a semifinalist in '04 & '05, applied their signatures to numerous large yellow spheres... Also on Monday, high seeds at the press "All-Access Hour" included Serena Williams (looking like she feels good in her James Brown haircut), Marion Bartoli, 2007 Charleston champ Jelena Jankovic, row 2: Anna Chakvetadze, Dinara Safina, Maria, and Elena Dementieva... row 3: On Tuesday, top seed Jelena attended a parade for the tourney's 35th anniversary, along with other players including Dominika Cibulkova, Alicia Molik, Anastasia Rodionova, and Sorana Cirstea... row 4: Darned good looking healthy young ladies at Tuesday night's player's party at Saks Fifth Avenue included Dominika, Maria Emilia Salerni (checking out a free makeover in the mirror), Tatiana Poutchek, Anastasia, & Biljana Veselinovic (Katarina Srebotnik's coach), Alina Jidkova & Agnieszka Radwanska, and Casey Dellacqua...

Charleston, 1st Round, Mon-Tue 10am loser's prize: $1,965 US; points: 1

Charleston, 2nd Round, Tue-Wed 10am loser's prize: $3,830 US; points: 40

Charleston, 3rd Round, Thu 11am ESPN2-TV & Eurosport loser's prize: $7,600 US; points: 60

Charleston, QFs, Fri 11am ESPN2-TV & Eurosport loser's prize: $14,825 US; points: 120

Charleston, SFs, Sat 1pm ESPN2-TV & Eurosport loser's prize: $28,750 US; points: 200

Charleston, Final, Sun 1pm ESPN2-TV & Eurosport loser's prize: $55,500 US; points: 320 winner's prize: $107,000 US; points: 470

Charleston, Doubles Final after singles losers' prize: $17,600 US winners' prize: $34,000 US Charleston, Qual Finals, Sun Apr 12 10am losers' prizes: q1 $520 1pt; q2 $1,000 8pts; qualifier 12 points Charleston, Withdrawals:

Barcelona KIA,  Barcelona, Spain   tourney time:        = GMT +1 hours        = US EDT +5 hours        = US PDT +8 hours Spain News Weather Forecast | Weather Maps | Weather Radar     Barcelona: The main draw for Barcelona has 8 seeds, with no 1st-round byes.     There are 4 qualifiers and 3 wild cards in the main draw. Qualifying finals are on Monday.   click for broader view   David Lloyd Club Turó Latitude: 41.382484 Longitude: 2.108216 goto link for World Wind Barcelona KIA venue address: David Lloyd Club Turó, Avinguda Diagonal, 673-685, 08028, Barcelona, Spain TEL:933342012     Barcelona, a new tourney in 2007, was held at the Barcelona Olympic Tennis Center the first year, but for 2008 it was moved to the David Lloyd Club Turó (there is no shortage of red clay courts in Barcelona). 2008: Maria Kirilenko posed at David Lloyd Club Turó (probably on Wednesday, June 11) for a pic to accompany a Barcelona newspaper interview...

Barcelona, 1st Round, Mon-Tue 11am loser's prize: $1,725 US; points: 1

Barcelona, 2nd Round, Wed-Thu 11am loser's prize: $2,950 US; points: 30

Barcelona, QFs, Fri 11am loser's prize: $5,340 US; points: 70

Barcelona, SFs, Sat 11:45am loser's prize: $10,200 US; points: 130

Barcelona, Final, Sun 3:30pm loser's prize: $19,000 US; points: 200 winner's prize: $37,000 US (+KIA Cee’d Automobile?); points: 280

Barcelona, Doubles Final, Sat loser's prize: $5,750 US winner's prize: $11,000 US Barcelona, Qual Finals, Mon Apr 13 11am losers' prizes: q1 $265 1pt; q2 $460 6pts; q3 $860 10pts; qualifier 16 points Barcelona, Withdrawals

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

Current WTA Results & Tennis News (tennis home page) - 2009 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.