WTA Aug 3-9: Los Angeles LA Women's Tennis Champ's Los Angeles, CA PREMIER 700 $700,000 56m/32q/16d outdoor: hard - Free Live Video Live Scores - in popup window draws: WTA S - Q - D - OOP     tourn. draws: S - Q - D - OOP photos: Y!: sports - news | WTA LA: radar - forecast - news #1 Dinara Safina #7 Vera Zvonareva #8 Victoria Azarenka #9 Caroline Wozniacki #10 Nadia Petrova #11 Ana Ivanovic #12 Dominika Cibulkova #13 Agnieszka Radwanska #14 Marion Bartoli #15 Flavia Pennetta #62 Maria Sharapova

Tourney pages: LA: 2008 - 2007 - 2006 - 2005 - 2004 - 2003 previous other tourney pages next Los Angeles: #20 Samantha Stosur 5'7¾" 143lb, RH 2H-BH Los Angeles: #15 Flavia Pennetta 5'7¾" 128lb, RH 2H-BH

On Sunday in the Los Angeles suburb of Carson, California, in the final of the LA Women's Tennis Championships, 27-year-old 10th-seeded # 15 Flavia Pennetta of Italy (residence: Verbier, Switzerland), won the biggest title of her career by defeating 25-year-old 13th-seeded # 20 Samantha Stosur from Gold Coast, Australia, 6-4, 6-3 (Samantha is shown during the match; Flavia with the glassware afterward). Flavia's prize is $107,000; Samantha's prize is $55,500.     Flavia converted 4 of 7 break points against Samantha; Sam only converted 1 of 3 break points against Flavia.     Flavia said: "All week I was improving and playing better and better. Today was a very good match. We both fought a lot. I had a great chance in the first set and the second, I took it and that's why I won...     "I think my serve was very good. Almost all week it helped me a lot in the important points. I was very aggressive. When I was aggressive I won the points." AP story     Samantha, not serving as well as she had during her semifinal victory over Sorana Cirstea, struck 3 aces on Sunday, but with 8 double faults (Flavia: 4 aces, 2 DFs). Samantha also committed 32 unforced errors; Flavia, only 16.     Samantha said: "I think [Flavia] got a pretty decent amount of first serves in. When I got chances on second serves I wasn't able to split the court very well... I thought she served pretty well... I didn't put enough pressure on her. I think that was the difference today...     "Sure, I'm disappointed. I would have loved to have won my first title today, but it wasn't meant to be. I played a very good player today and she played a little better than me... I've got a lot to be happy with. I know I'm playing great tennis." tourney quotes

    Flavia and Samantha had never before met on the field of combat.

    2008 LA finalist Flavia is now 8-9 in WTA singles finals; she won her previous title three weeks ago in Palermo. Flavia has a 38-16 match record for 2009.

    Samantha, a semifinalist at this year's French Open and again last week at Stanford, and winner of 22 WTA doubles titles, is now 0-5 in WTA singles finals; her previous final was last year in Seoul, Korea. Samantha has a 26-14 singles match record this year.

WTA SCOREBOARD: Los Angeles s=seed, #=rank, *=upset, LL=lucky loser ranks are for the previous week How do players get into the "draw"? LA Women's Tennis Championships,  Carson (Los Angeles), California   NWS weather radar tourney time:        = GMT -7 hours        = US EDT -3 hours        = US PDT Los Angeles news - California news Weather Forecast | Weather Maps | Weather Radar   click for broader view   Home Depot Center, Carson, California Lat.: 33.862264 Lon.: -118.260741 goto link for World Wind     Los Angeles: The 56-player main draw for Los Angeles has 16 seeds, with 8 1st-round byes. There are 8 qualifiers and 4 wild cards in the main draw. Qualifying finals are on Sunday.

Los Angeles, 1st Rd, Mon-Tue 11am Mon quotes loser's prize: $1,965 US; points: 1 #15 s10 Flavia Pennetta ITA d #88 LL Varvara Lepchenko USA 6-2, 5-7, 6-0 Mon Flavia and Varvara driving righty forehand and lefty backhand *#50 Anna Chakvetadze RUS d #17 s11 Virginie Razzano FRA 7-6(5), 6-3 Mon #18 s12 Na Li CHN d #65 Ayumi Morita JPN 6-0, 2-0 retired Tue #20 s13 Samantha Stosur AUS d #72 Monica Niculescu ROU 6-1, 6-2 Tue Samantha slicing a serve, Monica's backhand drive, and Samantha's forehand #22 s14 Jie Zheng CHN d #175 q Olga Savchuk UKR 7-5, 1-6, 6-2 Tue *#47 Lucie Safarova CZE d #23 s15 Kaia Kanepi EST 6-3, 7-6(4) Mon *#76 q Jill Craybas USA d #24 s16 Francesca Schiavone ITA 7-6(7), 6-2 Mon #25 s17 Sabine Lisicki GER d #154 q Kimiko Date Krumm JPN 7-6(5), 2-6, 7-5 Tue Kimiko and Sabine driving forehand and backhand, and Sabine smiling while taking evasive action after a bee invaded the court #27 Daniela Hantuchova SVK d #78 q Melanie Oudin USA 6(3)-7, 6-2, 6-2 Tue Melanie and Daniela driving backhands, and Daniela after match point *#108 wc Vania King USA d #28 Sybille Bammer AUT 6-3, 6-2 Mon Vania driving a backhand, and after match point #29 Sorana Cirstea ROU d #91 wc Michelle Larcher de Brito POR 6-4, 7-5 Tue *#34 Elena Vesnina RUS d #32 Agnes Szavay HUN 6-1, 6-0 Mon #33 Alona Bondarenko UKR d #NR sr61 Meghann Shaughnessy USA 3-6, 6-3, 6-3 Mon Meghann spinning a forehand, and Alona about to swat one #36 Alisa Kleybanova RUS d #100 Alla Kudryavtseva RUS 6-1, 6-3 Mon #37 Aleksandra Wozniak CAN d #125 Bethanie Mattek-Sands USA 7-5, 7-5 Tue #39 Shuai Peng CHN d #126 q Michaella Krajicek NED 6-3, 6(4)-7, 6-3 Mon Shuai driving a backhand #40 Ekaterina Makarova RUS d #56 Melinda Czink HUN 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 Tue #52 Maria Kirilenko RUS d #144 q Chanelle Scheepers RSA 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 Tue Maria firing a cannonball serve, Chanelle driving a backhand, Maria about to swat a forehand, and after match point #55 Yanina Wickmayer BEL d #149 Nicole Vaidisova CZE 6-1, 6-1 Mon #57 Ai Sugiyama JPN d #134 q Carly Gullickson USA 6-3, 6-1 Mon *#439 wc Coco Vandeweghe USA d #58 Tathiana Garbin ITA 6-4, 6-4 Mon Coco's forehand drive     Coco said: "I've tried and failed a couple of times but to finally get my first [WTA] win under my belt is a nice feeling... World Team Tennis definitely helped me a lot." *#62 Maria Sharapova RUS d #59 Jarmila Groth SVK 6-0, 6-4 Mon Jarmila and Maria driving backhands, and Maria after winning a point     Maria said: "[Jarmila] was swinging away all through the match, a lot of them starting to go in, but she couldn't consistently do it. At a certain point I was able to retrieve. Her goal was to attack. It challenged me to really focus, you've got to re-group and start doing something a little bit more in order to get that break back." *#71 Urszula Radwanska POL d #60 Julie Coin FRA 6-1, 6-2 Tue #64 Shahar Peer ISR d #123 q Anastasia Rodionova RUS 7-5, 4-1 retired—left ankle injury Mon

Los Angeles, 2nd Rd, Tue 7pm, Wed 11am Tue quotes - Wed quotes loser's prize: $3,830 US; points: 40 #1 s1 Dinara Safina RUS d #27 Daniela Hantuchova SVK 6-2, 6-4 Wed Daniela following a backhand, and Dinara driving one     Dinara said: "It was a good match for being my first match back here in America. I think [Daniela] had an advantage playing yesterday. It was a solid match, I didn't do anything spectacular. This is the third time we've played this year and we've played on all different surfaces. In the crucial moments I was more aggressive today...     "I take one match at a time. From this match I can build and better my game tomorrow." #7 s2 Vera Zvonareva RUS d #39 Shuai Peng CHN 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(6) Tue Vera and Shuai driving backhands, and Vera after match point *#62 Maria Sharapova RUS d #8 s3 Victoria Azarenka BLR 6(4)-7, 6-4, 6-2 Wed Maria serving, Victoria driving a backhand, Maria driving a forehand, and after match point     Maria said: "I had so many chances to win the first set, and chances to close games, and I didn't. I had a break point in the first set, and [Victoria] hit a 79 mile per hour pea shooter, and I hit it inside the service line and she took control after that. I was able to win the second and play a solid third...     "I had to come in with a good game plan and needed to change a few things, and did a good job adjusting. It was important to take those things and use them to my advantage. I knew that going in to this match that I was going to have to dig deep and just hang tough and stay in there. I learned a great deal, gave myself another chance to play tomorrow. She's had a great year and I'm happy with the way I stayed with her...     "Being in LA feels great. I have a great support system here and it feels like home."     Victoria said: "It was a close match, I just have to learn from it. For me every match is a big deal. Every tournament, every match is serious. I'm very disappointed. I just have to work hard and play more...     "[Maria is] a great player. She still has her game. It doesn't matter she was out for a year." *#29 Sorana Cirstea ROU d #9 s4 Caroline Wozniacki DEN 1-6, 6-4, 7-6(5) Wed Sorana driving a forehand, her best friend on the Tour, Caroline, driving a backhand, and Sorana after match point #10 s5 Nadia Petrova RUS d #64 Shahar Peer ISR 6-4, 2-6, 6-3 Wed Nadia serving, Shahar running down a backhand, Nadia following one, and Shahar after losing a point #11 s6 Ana Ivanovic SRB d #108 wc Vania King USA 6-4, 4-6, 6-1 Tue Vania about to slice a backhand, and Ana driving one     Ana said: "I felt happy with the way I was moving and playing overall. It's just the first match and I have the ability to build up and improve. I'm pretty happy to have the opportunity for another match. I started really well and [Vania] started to make a few mistakes. I had a few bad shots toward the end of the second set. That was frustrating. I had an opportunity a few times to put the ball away but had a little doubt in my mind as to which shot to take. I thought she moved a lot better in the second set but at times I could see her body language... that she was getting frustrated and I tried to use that."     Vania said: "In the beginning I felt like [Ana] was overpowering me and I really didn't have a game plan. I started to play her backhand more. I think she got nervous. Both of us were up and down a lot. I was nervous to play her again. She's a great player and I like to play against her. People expect her to win. I played her twice before and I lost pretty badly. I'm not making excuses but I wasn't playing well. My coach says I can play with the top players but I just need to believe. It's something I've struggled with...getting a mental block because they're in the top 10, but I think I'm doing a much better job of staying mentally tough." *#71 Urszula Radwanska POL d #12 s7 Dominika Cibulkova SVK 6-4, 6(6)-7, 6-4 Wed #13 s8 Agnieszka Radwanska POL d #57 Ai Sugiyama JPN 6-2, 6-1 Wed Agnieszka and Ai driving backhand and forehand #15 s10 Flavia Pennetta ITA d #439 wc Coco Vandeweghe USA 6-2, 6-4 Wed Flavia following a forehand drop shot     Flavia said: "I think I was playing pretty good today. I didn't make too many mistakes, my serve was very good and my returns were good... I know my next match [against Nadia Petrova] will be very tough, but I will do my best." #18 s12 Na Li CHN d #37 Aleksandra Wozniak CAN 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 Wed #20 s13 Samantha Stosur AUS d #52 Maria Kirilenko RUS 6-2, 6-4 Wed #22 s14 Jie Zheng CHN d #34 Elena Vesnina RUS 6-4, 4-6, 6-0 Wed #25 s17 Sabine Lisicki GER d #40 Ekaterina Makarova RUS 6-1, 6-4 Wed #33 Alona Bondarenko UKR d #47 Lucie Safarova CZE 5-7, 6-4, 7-5 Wed *#50 Anna Chakvetadze RUS d #36 Alisa Kleybanova RUS 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 Wed #55 Yanina Wickmayer BEL d #76 q Jill Craybas USA 7-6(2), 6-1 Wed Yanina following a backhand

Los Angeles, 3rd Rd, Thu 11am tourney quotes loser's prize: $7,600 US; points: 60 *#22 s14 Jie Zheng CHN d #1 s1 Dinara Safina RUS 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 Jie serving, Dinara's backhand drive, Jie driving a forehand, and after match point     Jie said: ""It's amazing for me because I've never beaten Safina before. I've lost to her four times before. Before the start of the match I knew it would be tough. I just tried my best. You could tell that I was 110 percent on every point. I tried to be more aggressive..."     "I knew she had a big serve, but her moving isn't very good. I tried to get her moving more and attack her forehand."     Dinara said: "[Jie is] a good player. It's tough to play her. In this match I didn't do the right things. I should have played better. Today, she took her chances and beat me... I was not going for aces. I was just brining the ball in play. That was a mistake." #7 s2 Vera Zvonareva RUS d #55 Yanina Wickmayer BEL 7-6(5), 4-6, 6-4 Yanina driving a backhand, and Vera about to connect with one *#15 s10 Flavia Pennetta ITA d #10 s5 Nadia Petrova RUS 6-3, 6-3 Nadia following what appears to be a backhand drop shot, Flavia about to swat a backhand drive, and after match point *#20 s13 Samantha Stosur AUS d #11 s6 Ana Ivanovic SRB 6-3, 6-2 Samantha twisting a serve, Ana following a backhand, and Samantha driving one     Samantha said: "I was expecting a tougher scoreline. I lost to [Ana] about a month ago (at Wimbledon [3rd round, 7-5, 6-2]. Anytime you play against someone you lost to recently, it's a bit of a benchmark to test yourself. As the match went on, I felt better and better."     Ana said: "I started really well, I think. The first set was really close and I had chances to break her but [Samantha] was serving really well. She had some big serves. On the other hand, I wasn't serving really well. She was aggressive and she was fast. I think that was a big difference in the match. But I think it was much closer than maybe the score indicated...     "After Wimbledon, I had some injuries and took three weeks off. So I started off slowly. I want to enjoy myself and not spend so much of my time on the court. Now, I feel it is important to be fresh and hungry again. Now, I am feeling excited to work again." #13 s8 Agnieszka Radwanska POL d #50 Anna Chakvetadze RUS 6-3, 6-2 Anna and Agnieszka driving backhands *#71 Urszula Radwanska POL d #18 s12 Na Li CHN walkover—right knee injury *#29 Sorana Cirstea ROU d #25 s17 Sabine Lisicki GER 6-3, 1-0 retired—shoulder injury Sorana driving a forehand, and Sabine telling her troubles to the trainer *#62 Maria Sharapova RUS d #33 Alona Bondarenko UKR 4-6, 6-0, 6-3 Maria twisting a serve Alonaward, Alona and Maria driving backhands, and Maria after winning a point     Maria said: "In the third set I played great, put a lot of pressure on [Alona's] serve. I kept the momentum from the second set... It's tough playing against players that play for the majority of the season. My last two opponents are two of the most physically fit girls on the tour. I actually thought I was physically fresher than her in the third set. It gives me a lot of confidence that I can step it up when I need to especially after losing to her a few months ago."

Los Angeles, QFs, Fri noon tourney quotes loser's prize: $14,825 US; points: 120 #15 s10 Flavia Pennetta ITA d #7 s2 Vera Zvonareva RUS 6-4, 6-2 Flavia and Vera driving forehands, Flavia driving a backhand, and after match point     Flavia said: "I was playing very good from the beginning. My serve was great tonight and that was the important thing for me. I was very happy with the way that I played tonight...     "Against Maria [Sharapova in the semifinals], it is going to be a tough match and I need to play like I did tonight. Everything seemed to be working for me tonight. Of course, my serve needs to be there again and I need to stay focused. It will, for sure, be a difficult match." *#29 Sorana Cirstea ROU d #13 s8 Agnieszka Radwanska POL 7-6(4), 1-6, 7-5 Sorana serving, Agnieszka's forehand drive, Sorana driving a backhand, and after match point     Sorana said: "My [right] foot was hurt. I had to stay in the match. My plantar fasciitis is inflamed, so I called the physio for a little bit. I'm happy I went through that and, hopefully, tomorrow it will be good. It was 3-all in the [first set] tiebreak and I did the wrong movement. The second set, I was feeling my foot and I didn't know if I could play with the pain. But the physio told me it could not get any worse than it already was. I focused on my serve and I got some free points on that." #20 s13 Samantha Stosur AUS d #22 s14 Jie Zheng CHN 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 Samantha serving, Jie reaching for a forehand, and Samantha after winning a point     Samantha said: "I'm very happy with the way things have gone, to make two semis in two weeks. You can't ask for anything more than that. I really like playing hardcourts. I've been working on a few things and it's all coming together. I'm trying to make my serve and my forehand as good as they can be. They've always been my weapons, and now I'm just trying to make them even better."     About playing Sorana Cirstea in the semifinals, Samantha said: "We've played once before and I got on top of that one [2009 French Open QFs, Samantha won 6-1, 6-3]. It's going to be a tough match. [Sorana has] a very good forehand and she competes very well. She's aggressive and hits a lot of winners off her forehand. She's going to go for it, but so am I. Not much is going to change much in my game." #62 Maria Sharapova RUS d #71 Urszula Radwanska POL 6-4, 7-5 Two views of Maria serving, and Urszula and Maria driving backhands     Maria said: "In the first [set], I really just went after my serve and really jumped in the court. In my second set, I really stopped doing that. My arm was kind of lagging behind, instead of going up after each serve. It was kind of like a bad habit I created when I was having problems with the shoulder.     "It was just a matter of regrouping and staying positive. I knew I was doing a good enough job with my return that if I stayed positive, I knew I could win the match. [Urszula is] someone who has a decent first serve, but her second isn't as good. I have the confidence to attack it any time of day. It was just important that I keep going at it no matter how many errors I was making."

Los Angeles, SFs, Sat noon loser's prize: $28,750 US; points: 200 #15 s10 Flavia Pennetta ITA d #62 Maria Sharapova RUS 6-2, 4-6, 6-4 Flavia driving a forehands, Maria and Flavia driving backhands, and Flavia after match point     Maria suffered from 16 double faults (with 3 aces), and won only 23% of her 2nd serve points (Flavia: 5 DFs, 1 ace, won 43% of 2nd serve points).     Flavia said: "I just like this tournament and the (slow) court here. That's why I played good tennis... In the second set I lost a lot of chances. I was supposed to finish it, but [Maria] started to play more aggressive. In the third, I started to have problems with my serve. I think we both did... I'm pretty happy because I didn't really play as well as yesterday, but I still came through with this match...     "Of course [Maria is] going to be frustrated because she's one of the best servers on the tour. She's going to start serving like always again." tourney quotes     Maria said: "I didn't feel physically fresh from the beginning of the match. I was surprised it went to the third. I certainly had my opportunities in the third. I just couldn't close it out...     "Obviously, you always think positive. I tried to be more aggressive. I was making too many errors off the forehand and the backhand side. I wasn't reading the game well in the beginning. I slowly started reading her better and I was lucky to win the second set. I think in the third it could have gone any way, but it just didn't go my way today." #20 s13 Samantha Stosur AUS d #29 Sorana Cirstea ROU 6-3, 6-2 Samantha serving, Sorana and Samantha driving backhand and forehand, and Sorana congratulating Samantha after match point     Samantha, a semifinalist at this year's French Open and again last week at Stanford, put on an impressive offensive display, combining spin and speed to fire 13 forehand winners and 7 aces.     Sorana said: "[Samantha's serve is] her biggest weapon. I knew with her you don't get too many chances and if you don't take the ones you have, it's tough." AP story     Slowed by pain from plantar fascitis in her fight foot, Sorana struck 25 unnforced errors. Sorana said: "It was bothering me. She was in good form and if I wanted to beat her I had to be 100 percent. Sam was playing so good, she didn't give me any chances."     Samantha said: "I was putting balls in places [Sorana] didn't really want to move to. Maybe she wasn't moving as best she can, but I made it hard on her. I kept pressure on her the whole match."

Los Angeles, Final, Sun 2pm ESPN2-TV loser's prize: $55,500 US; points: 320 winner's prize: $107,000 US; points: 470 #15 s10 Flavia Pennetta ITA d #20 s13 Samantha Stosur AUS 6-4, 6-3 Flavia serving, Samantha and Flavia driving backhand and forehand, and Flavia after match point

Los Angeles, Doubles Final, Sun 11:45am losers' prize: $17,600 US winners' prize: $34,000 US cdr60 Zi Yan & Chia-Jung Chuang d cdr65 Maria Kirilenko & Agnieszka Radwanska 6-0, 4-6, (10-7) Chia-Jung & Zi, and Maria & Agnieszka Los Angeles, Qual Finals, Sun Aug 2 11am losers' prizes: q1 $520 1pt; q2 $1,000 8pts; qualifier 12 points #76 Jill Craybas USA d #139 Shenay Perry USA 6-0, 5-7, 6-4 #78 Melanie Oudin USA d #146 Melanie South GBR 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 *#144 Chanelle Scheepers RSA d #88 Varvara Lepchenko USA 6-3, 6-0 *#126 Michaella Krajicek NED d #103 Alexa Glatch USA 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 #123 Anastasia Rodionova RUS d #623 Sloane Stephens USA 6-3, 6-1 *#154 Kimiko Date Krumm JPN d #124 Julie Ditty USA 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-1 *#175 Olga Savchuk UKR d #133 Angela Haynes USA 6-4, 6-3 #134 Carly Gullickson USA d #816 Lindsey Nelson USA 6-3, 6-4 Los Angeles, Withdrawals #5 Svetlana Kuznetsova RUS foot injury #41 Sara Errani ITA left knee & right ankle #54 Anne Keothavong GBR tore left knee ligaments at Stanford; out for the year #66 Tamira Paszek AUT #81 Tamarine Tanasugarn THA

    (August 2, 2009) Stanford champ Marion Bartoli has withdrawn from LA due to a calf injury, and the draw has been revised.

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.