WTA Jul 19-25: Bad Gastein & Portoroz Gastein Ladies, Bad Gastein, AUT INTL $220,000 32m/32q/16d outdoor: red clay Live Scores draws: WTA     tourn. draws: S - Q - D - OOP pics: WTA - webcam Austria: radar (Europe) - forecast Austria News & Links # , # # , # Slovenia Open, Portoroz, SLO INTL $220,000 32m/32q/16d outdoor: hard Live Scores draws: WTA     tourn. draws: S - Q - D - sched. photos: WTA Portoroz: radar - forecast - map # , # # , #

Bad Gastein & Portoroz: 2009   Bad Gastein: 2008 - 2007 Portoroz: 2008 - 2007 - 2006 - 2005 previous other tourney pages next Portoroz 2009: #1 Dinara Safina 5'11½" 154½lb RH 2H-BH Bad Gastein 2009: #98 Andrea Petkovic 5'11" 152lb RH 2H-BH

    The Bad Gastein & Portoroz 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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  Portoroz, 2009:

    On Sunday in Portoroz, Slovenia, in the final of the Slovenia Open, 23-year-old top-seeded #1 Dinara Safina of Russia (residence: Monte Carlo, Monaco) narrowly defeated the 2008 Portoroz champ and last week's finalist in Palermo, 22-year-old 5th-seeded #47 Sara Errani from Bologna, Italy, 6(5)-7, 6-1, 7-5 (Dinara is shown hoisting the transparent trophy after the match). Dinara's prize is $37,000; Sara's prize is $19,000.

    Sara broke the world #1's serve seven times (in 14 opportunities), but it was not enough; Dinara converted 11 of 19 break points against Sara. Dinara won despite 9 double faults (Sara: 0 DFs), but Dinara won 56% of her 1st serve points, Sara, only 38%.

    Dinara and Sara had met only once before, earlier this year in the 1st round in Stuttgart, when Dinara won, 6-0, 6-1.

    Valencia-trained 2009 Australian Open and 2008 French Open finalist Dinara is now 12-10 in WTA singles finals; she had won her most recent titles in May in Madrid and Rome. Dinara has a 47-9 match record this season.
    2008 Portoroz champion Sara is now 2-2 in WTA singles finals; her other title came in Palermo last year. Sara has a 21-20 match record in 2009.

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  Bad Gastein, 2009:

    Meanwhile in Bad Gastein, Austria, in the final of the Gastein Ladies, 21-year-old unseeded #98 Andrea Petkovic from Darmstadt, Germany, won the first WTA title of her career by defeating 20-year-old unseeded #59 Iona Raluca Olaru from Bucharest, Romania, 6-2, 6-3 (Andrea is shown holding the hardware after the match.) Andrea's prize is $37,000; Iona's prize is $19,000.

    Andrea said: "I was hoping to land my first title here. It will take some time to realize I've actually done it but I am just very happy now." AP story
    Andrea was sidelined for eight months last year after tearing right knee ligaments at the Australian Open. Andrea said: "Rehabilitation was long and hard but made me a stronger person. Winning this title shows I am a better player now."

    Iona said: "I am obviously disappointed, I wanted to play better tennis today. But I had a great week and must be satisfied with that."

    Andrea and Iona are now tied at 2-2 in career matches; both of Iona's wins came on clay courts in ITF play, while Andrea won their only previous WTA match, on a plexipave hardcourt at Indian Wells earlier this year.

    Both ladies were playing in their first WTA singles final.
    Andrea, now 1-0 in WTA singles finals, has won 8 ITF singles titles and 3 ITF doubles titles. Andrea has a 37-15 match record this year. This was by far the best week of her career: she also reached the doubles final, partnered with Tatjana Malek, though they lost to Lucie Hradecka and Andrea Hlavackova, 6-2, 6-4
    2005 Roland Garros Juniors finalist Iona, now 0-1 in WTA singles finals, has won 9 ITF singles titles and 1 WTA and 6 ITF doubles titles. Iona has a 24-16 match record this season. Getting to Know: Iona Raluca Olaru

WTA SCOREBOARD: Bad Gastein & Portoroz s=seed, #=rank, *=upset, LL=lucky loser ranks are for the previous week How do players get into the "draw"? Gastein Ladies,  Bad Gastein, Austria   tourney time:        = GMT +2 hours        = US EDT +6 hours        = US PDT +9 hours Austria News Weather Forecast | Weather Maps | Weather Radar     Bad Gastein: The 32-player main draw for Bad Gastein 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   Bad Gastein, Austria, area (close-up N/A) Latitude: 47.119906 Longitude: 13.130722 goto link for World Wind The Gastein Valley is a skiing area about 90 kilometers (56 miles) from Salzburg; Bad Gastein is at an altitude of 1000 meters, and is near Stubnerkogel, 2246 meters. The was new in 2007. 2009: On Friday, July 24, in Bad Gastein, top seed Alize Cornet posed for a photo... Earlier in the week, Nuria Llagostera Vives took a cable car up Schloss Alm to view the area from above, and Austrian Tamira Paszek, sidelined by injury, relaxed at the hot springs...

Bad Gastein, 1st Rnd, Mon-Tue 10am loser's prize: $1,725 US; points: 1

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

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

Bad Gastein, SFs, Sat noon loser's prize: $10,200 US; points: 130

Bad Gastein, Final, Sun noon loser's prize: $19,000 US; points: 200 winner's prize: $37,000 US; points: 280

Bad Gastein, Doubles Final, Sun after singles loser's prize: $5,750 US winner's prize: $11,000 US Bad Gastein, Qual Finals, Mon Jul 19 10am losers' prizes: q1 $265 1pt; q2 $460 6pts; q3 $860 10pts; qualifier 16 points Bad Gastein, Withdrawals

Slovenia Open,  Portoroz, Slovenia   tourney time:        = GMT +2 hours        = US EDT +6 hours        = US PDT +9 hours Slovenia News Weather Forecast | Weather Maps | Weather Radar     Portoroz: The 32-player main draw for Portoroz has 8 seeds, with no 1st-round byes. There are 4 qualifiers in the main draw. Qualifying (3 rounds) starts on Saturday, qualifying finals are on Monday.   click for broader view   SRC Marina Portoroz, Slovenia Latitude: 45.507963 Longitude: 13.596697 goto link for World Wind Slovenia Open venue address: ŠRC Marina Portorose, Slovenia; operators: Sport Society of Portorose, Liminjanska cesta 115, 6320 Portorose     2008 is the fourth year of the Portoroz tourney. Slovenia, north of Croatia, west of Switzerland, south of Austria, and east of Hungary, became independent from Yugoslavia in 1991 after a 10-day war. Portoroz is located on the Adriatic Sea; Italy is on the opposite shore. 2009: On Friday, July 17, Slovene #1 Katarina Srebotnik, currently sidelined by a shoulder injury, and WTA #1 Dinara Safina took a boat ride to the nearby town of Piran for a light exhibition match... row 2: At the players party on Tuesday, Ekaterina Ivanova won the annual cocktail mixing contest... Ekaterina and Arantxa Rus were also looking very photogenic while sailing on Wednesday...

Portoroz, 1st Rd, Mon-Tue 4pm loser's prize: $1,725 US; points: 1

Portoroz, 2nd Rd, Wed-Thu 4pm loser's prize: $2,950 US; points: 30

Portoroz, QFs, Fri 4:30pm loser's prize: $5,340 US; points: 70

Portoroz, SFs, Sat 6pm loser's prize: $10,200 US; points: 130

Portoroz, Final, Sun 8pm loser's prize: $19,000 US; points: 200 winner's prize: $37,000 US; points: 280

Portoroz, Doubles Final Sat after singles SFs loser's prize: $5,750 US winner's prize: $11,000 US Portoroz, Qual Finals, Mon Jul 19 10am losers' prizes: q1 $265 1pt; q2 $460 6pts; q3 $860 10pts; qualifier 16 points Portoroz, Withdrawals

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

Current WTA Results & Tennis News (tennis home page) - 2010 WTA Schedule with links & photos

Link to many postmatch interview & match highlight videos of WTA players at the 2009 WTA Player Videos page.

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