WTA Apr 6-12: Ponte Vedra Beach MPS Group Championships Ponte Vedra Beach, FL INTL $220,000 32m?/32q/16d outdoor: green clay Har-Tru Live Scores WTA pdf.: draws & OOP - notes results - draw, .html - schedule pics: Y!: sports - news | WTA - FTU TV schedule ESPN2 FL Times-Union: Tennis Ponte Vedra Beach: radar     forecast # # # # # # # #

Tourney pages: Amelia Island: 2008 - 2007 - 2006 - 2005 - 2004 previous other tourney pages next Amelia Island 2008: #38 Dominika Cibulkova 5'3" 121lb RH 2H-BH Amelia Island 2008: #5 Maria Sharapova 6'2" 130lb RH 2H-BH Amelia Island 2008: 19th WTA Singles Title 1st Clay Court Title

    The Ponte Vedra Beach 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 link is above for your convenience when the draws become available.

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Maria Final - Sat SF - Fri QFs - Maria Sharapova - Meet Sania Mirza

Amelia Island, 2008:     On Sunday at Amelia Island, Florida, in the final of the Bausch & Lomb Championships, 20-year-old top-seeded # 5 Maria Sharapova of Russia (with residences in California and in Bradenton, Florida, home of the Bollettieri Academy), won her first clay court title by defeating 18-year-old unseeded # 38 Dominika Cibulkova from Bratislava, Slovakia, 7-6(7), 6-3 (both ladies are shown during the match, and Maria with the glassware after).     Maria put 67% of her 1st serves in the box and won 70% of those points while firing 4 aces with 5 double faults. Dominika made 65% of her 1st serves good, winning 58% of those points, launching 1 ace with 4 DFs. Maria coverted 4 of 6 break points against Dominika; Dominika scored on 3 of 9 BPs against Maria.     Maria said: "I feel pretty fortunate to win my first title on clay. I scrapped my way through those two early matches, and played well today, and I'm leaving this tournament as the champion, which is exciting." WTA story     Dominika said: "I feel great; it's amazing. I beat some great players this week and reached the final of Amelia Island - I still can't believe it."

    It was Maria's first-ever clay court final, and Dominika's first-ever WTA singles final on any surface. They had never before met on the field of combat. Maria's prize is $95,500; Dominika's is $48,900.

    6' 2" 2004 Wimbledon, 2006 US Open, and 2008 Australian Open champion Maria is now 19-7 in WTA singles finals; she previous title came in Doha, Qatar, in February. Maria now has a 22-1 match record in 2008, the best in the WTA.

    5' 3" Dominika has won 2 ITF singles titles. She reached the semifinals in Guangzhou last year, and the quarterfinals in Gold Coast and Doha this year. Dominika now has a 19-10 match record in 2008. Despite the loss, this was the best week of Dominika's career: she defeated # 27 Victoria Azarenka in the 2nd round, # 6 Anna Chakvetadze in the 3rd round, and # 24 (and former # 1) Amelie Mauresmo in the quarterfinals.

    Maria and Dominika will now head north to Charleston, South Carolina, and the Family Circle Cup, where Dominika will play # 77 Anastasia Rodionova in the 1st round for the 2nd week in a row (Dominika defeated Anastasia 6-3, 7-5, at Amelia Island on Tuesday).
    Maria, seeded 2nd in Charleston (behind the 2007 champ, # 3 Jelena Jankovic), has a 1st round bye, and will play either #101 Meng Yuan or #152 Bethanie Mattek in the 2nd round, probably on Wednesday.

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WTA SCOREBOARD: Ponte Vedra s=seed, #=rank, *=upset, LL=lucky loser ranks are for the previous week How do players get into the "draw"? The MPS Group Championships  Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida   NWS weather radar tourney time:        = GMT -4 hours        = US EDT        = US PDT +3 hours Weather Forecast | Weather Maps | Weather Radar   click for broader view   Sawgrass Country Club Latitude: 30.193643 Long.: -81.371768 goto link for World Wind     Formerly the Bausch & Lomb Championships, this tourney was held at Amelia Island Plantation for 29 years before moving to Ponte Vedra Beach for 2009. Ponte Vedra Beach is located in northeast Florida, 20 minutes southeast of Jacksonville.     Sawgrass Country Club covers 1250 acres with 13 Har-Tru green clay tennis courts, including a 3800-seat stadium court. Former ATP great Tony Trabert is a prominent club member. 2008: On Monday, April 7 at Amelia Island, top seed Maria Sharapova hit the practice courts, determined to stay in the pocket and not get caught scrambling this time; meanwhile, Sorana Cirstea celebrated her 18th birthday...

Ponte Vedra Beach, 1st Round, Mon-Tue 10am loser's prize: $1,725 US; points: 1

Ponte Vedra Beach, 2nd Round, Wed 10am, Thu 11am loser's prize: $2,950 US; points: 30

Ponte Vedra Beach, QFs, Fri 11am ESPN2-TV & Eurosport at 1pm loser's prize: $5,340 US; points: 70

Ponte Vedra Beach, SFs, Sat 1pm ESPN2-TV & Eurosport loser's prize: $10,200 US; points: 130

Ponte Vedra Beach, Final, Sun 1pm ESPN2-TV & Eurosport loser's prize: $19,000 US; points: 200 winner's prize: $37,000 US; points: 280

Ponte Vedra Beach, Doubles Final, Sun after singles loser's prize: $5,750 US winner's prize: $11,000 US Ponte Vedra Beach, Qual Finals, Mon Apr 6 10am losers' prizes: q1 $265 1pt; q2 $460 6pts; q3 $860 10pts; qualifier 16 points Ponte Vedra Beach, 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.