WTA May 18-24: Strasbourg Internationaux de Strasbourg Strasbourg, FRA INTL $220,000 32m/32q/16d outdoor: red clay Live Scores WTA pdf.: draws & OOP - notes pics: Y!: sports - news | tourney - WTA France news Strasbourg: sat-radar - forecast # # # # # # # #

Tourney pages: Berlin: 2008 - 2007 - 2006 - 2005 - 2004 Strasbourg 2008 - 2007 - 2006 - 2005 - 2004 - 2003 previous other tourney pages next Berlin 2008: #17 Dinara Safina 5' 11½" 154½lb RH 2H-BH Strasbourg 2008: #31 Anabel Medina Garrigues 5' 6½" 130lb RH 2H-BH

(Jan 14, 2009) The AP has reported that the Berlin German Open, which in recent years was sponsored by Qatar Telecom and run by the Qatar Tennis Federation, has been removed from the WTA schedule due to the lack of a sponsor. This leaves the "International" level Strasbourg tourney as the only event during the week preceding the French Open at Roland Garros. AP story

    The Strasbourg 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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Safina Final - Sun Shot of Day - Berlin Summary - Sat SFs - Sat Shot of Day - Fri QFs     Ana Ivanovic - Fri Shot of Day - Thu 3rd - Thu Shot of Day - Safina (d Henin) intrvw     Wed 2nd - Wed Shot of Day - player party - Tue 1st & 2nd rd - Cara & Liezel

Berlin, 2008:     On Sunday in Berlin, Germany, in the final of the Qatar Telecom German Open, 22-year-old 13th-seeded # 17 Dinara Safina of Russia (res: Monte Carlo, Monaco), defeated her compatriot from Moscow, 26-year-old 6th-seeded # 9 Elena Dementieva, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2 (Elena is shown during the match, Dinara with the hardware after). Dinara's prize is $196,900; Elena's is $100,000.     Dinara said: "I played a lot of drop shots and I think that really helped to win today. I didn't move that well at the beginning, even though I know I have to move really well for my game and use all the power I have; I thought 'Come on, you've got to make it today,' and I fought my way back in...     "Obviously, this has been the biggest success in my career. I still can't believe I actually won Berlin, and beat three Top 10 players in one week." WTA story     Elena said: "I played well in the first set, but then Dinara started to move much better and got more first serves in. I had problems returning and just wasn't as consistent as I needed to be to win today. I could see over the entire week that Dinara was playing well, and her success today pays off all the hard work and discipline she put in over the years..."

    "I knew it would be a tough match. She's in great shape and she beat some really good players already this week. She also likes to play on clay - she practices in Spain - so I knew it would be a tough one."

    Dinara now leads Elena 3-2 in career matches, Valencia, Spain-trained Dinara winning all three of their meetings on clay, and Elena twice on fast surfaces. Elena defeated Dinara in their previous meeting, on in indoor carpet in the Kremlin Cup semis in Moscow last October, 6-1, 6-0, and defeated Serena Williams to win the title the next day. But Dinara won the match before that, on red clay in last year's Rome quarters, 6-1, 6-1.

    Dinara is now 6-4 in WTA singles finals; her most recent title had been at Gold Coast in 2007; she also reached the Charleston (green clay) final last year, where she lost to Jelena Jankovic. Dinara now has a 17-10 match record for the season.
    Elena is now 9-12 in WTA singles finals; she won the Dubai title this year, and the Moscow and Istanbul titles last year. Elena now has a 20-5 match record in 2008.

  Strasbourg, 2008:

    In the Strasbourg final on Saturday, the 2007 and 2005 Strasbourg champ, 25-year-old 6th-seeded # 31 Anabel Medina Garrigues from Valencia, Spain, dropped the 1st set, then waited through rain delays before winning the title a third time, defeating 27-year-old 5th-seeded # 30 Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia (residence: income tax-free Dubai, United Arab Emirates), 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-0 (photo shown). Anabels's prize is $28,000; Katarina's is $15,000.

    Anabel said: "I was down 6-4, 6-5 and Kata was playing so well, so I'm even happier I was able to win the title today. I think I was playing defensively in the beginning and she was taking advantage of it. It was hard to concentrate, with all of the rain delays, but I really tried to hit deeper and be more aggressive. That was what helped me get back into the match." WTA story

    Katarina said: "I had a couple of funny finals but I would say this was the toughest; it stopped and started, I don't even know how long we were out there. It was the same for both of us. Who knows what would've happened if there was no rain - but what I do know is that she was just too good today."

    Anabel and Katarina are now tied at 3-3 in career matches, but Anabel leads Katarina 3-1 on clay, and also won their previous meeting, last year in the 2nd round in Rome, 6-3, 6-2.

    Anabel is now 8-4 in WTA singles finals; her previous title was last year in Strasbourg. 7 of Anabel's 8 titles came on red clay, 4 of them at Palermo and 3 at Strasbourg. Anabel has a 24-13 match record in 2008.
    Katarina is now 4-6 in WTA singles finals; her last win was in Stockholm in 2005. Katarina has a 23-12 match record this season.

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WTA SCOREBOARD: Strasbourg s=seed, #=rank, *=upset, LL=lucky loser ranks are for the previous week How do players get into the "draw"? Internationaux de Strasbourg,  Strasbourg, France   tourney time:        = GMT +2 hours        = US EDT +6 hours        = US PDT +9 hours France News Weather Forecast | Weather Maps | Weather Radar     Strasbourg: The 32-player main draw for Strasbourg 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   Centre Sportif de Hautepierre Latitude: 48.599033 Longitude: 7.691063 goto link for World Wind Internationaux de Strasbourg venue address: Centre Sportif de Hautepierre, Rue Baden Powell, F-67200, Strasbourg, France 2008: Darned good looking healthy young ladies at the 2008 Strasbourg player party included Chunmei Ji, Zi Yan & Shengnan Sun, clay court experts Anabel Medina Garrigues & Flavia Pennetta, and Sabine Lisicki...

Strasbourg, 1st Round, Mon 10am-Tue 11am loser's prize: $1,725 US; points: 1

Strasbourg, 2nd Round, Wed 10am loser's prize: $2,950 US; points: 30

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

Strasbourg, SFs, Fri 2pm loser's prize: $10,200 US; points: 130

Strasbourg, Final, Sat 2pm after doubles loser's prize: $19,000 US; points: 200 winner's prize: $37,000 US; points: 280

Strasbourg, Doubles Final, Sat 11:30am loser's prize: $5,750 US winner's prize: $11,000 US Strasbourg, Qual Finals, Mon May 18 10am losers' prizes: q1 $265 1pt; q2 $460 6pts; q3 $860 10pts; qualifier 16 points Strasbourg, 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.