WTA Apr 12-18: Charleston & Barcelona Family Circle Cup, Charleston, SC PREMIER 700 $1,000,000 56m/32q/16d outdoor: green clay Har-Tru Live Scores draws: WTA tourn.: draws - OOP - interviews pics: Y!: sports - news | tourney - WTA Post & Courier: FCC Charleston: radar - forecast # S Williams, # C Wozniacki # V Azarenka, # J Jankovic Barcelona Ladies Open, ESP David Lloyd Club Turó INTL $220,000 32m/32q/16d outdoor: red clay Live Scores draws: WTA pics: Y!: sports - news | WTA Barcelona: radar - forecast # F Schiavone, # A Rezai FRA # MJ Martinez S, # A Medina G

Charleston & Barcelona: 2009 Charleston: 2008 - 2007 - 2006 - 2005 - 2004   Barcelona: 2008 - 2007 previous other tourney pages next Barcelona 2009: #67 Roberta Vinci 5'4" 132lb RH 1H-BH Charleston 2009: #62 Sabine Lisicki 5'10" 154lb 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.

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  Charleston, 2009:

    On Sunday in Charleston, South Carolina, in the final of the Family Circle Cup, big-serving Bollettieri Academy-trained 19-year-old 16th-seeded # 62 Sabine Lisicki from Berlin, Germany, won her first ever WTA singles title by defeating last weekend's champ at Ponte Vedra Beach, 18-year-old 5th-seeded # 12 Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark (residence: Monte Carlo, Monaco), 6-2, 6-4 (Sabine is shown with the glassware after the match).

    Sabine's prize is $187,815; Caroline's is $97,418. Sabine will move up to # 43 in Monday's WTA rankings; Caroline to # 11. Both are at new career highs.

    Sabine fired 9 aces (with 5 double faults), and though she put only 56% of her 1st serves in the box, she won a whopping 86% of her 1st serve points (Caroline: 3 aces, 2 DFs, 67% of 1st serves in, won 63% of 1st serve pts).
    Sabine also converted all three of the break points she held on Caroline's serve; Caroline scored on none of the three break points she held against Sabine.
    Sabine took a 40-love lead while serving for the match at 5-4, but Caroline fended off all three match points. When Sabine gained another advantage, Caroline fended off another match point. And another...

    Sabine said "I really couldn't believe I won, because I didn't use my first match points. When I finally won—I don't know which match point it was, seventh, eighth, it felt like 30th—I was so happy. I've worked so hard the last couple of weeks and months and it's finally paying off. I knew I had the game to beat those players, and now I think I'm more mature to win the whole tournament." WTA story

    Caroline said: "I wasn't moving well today like I have been in other tournaments, but Sabine was playing really well, attacking and not making a lot of errors. It was tough for me today. This is a fantastic tournament. It was great to be here and play the final. Sabine played really well. Congratulations to her."

    Caroline and Sabine had met only once before, on a Plexipave hardcourt in the 3rd round of this year's Australian Open, when Caroline won, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3.

    Sabine is now 1-1 in WTA singles finals; she reached the Tashkent final last year. Sabine is 13-6 in matches for the season, and 6 of her 13 wins occurred during the past 6 days in Charleston.
    Caroline is now 4-3 in WTA singles finals; she won the Ponte Vedra title last Sunday, reached the Memphis final earlier this year, and won in Stockholm, New Haven, and Tokyo (the Japan Open) last year. Caroline has a 27-8 record in 2009.

  Barcelona, 2009:

    On Sunday in Barcelona, Spain, in the final of the Barcelona Ladies Open, 26-year-old unseeded # 67 Roberta Vinci from Taranto, Italy, defeated the 2008 Barcelona champion, 22-year-old 6th-seeded # 38 Maria Kirilenko from Moscow, Russia, 6-0, 6-4 (Roberta is shown with the hardware after the match).

    Roberta won 60% of her 1st serve points and 64% of her 2nd serve points, and scored on 6 of 7 of the break points she held on Maria's serve.
    Maria had a terrible day, winning only 38% of her 1st serve points and 44% of her 2nd serve points, while converting just 2 of 7 break points against Roberta.

    Roberta's prize is $37,000; Maria's is $19,000.

    Roberta said: "I am so happy! It's such a great feeling to win again. It has been a long time since I played well. I felt good after Marbella - I had a good match against Jankovic and it gave me confidence coming here to Barcelona." WTA story

    Roberta and Maria are now tied at 2-2 in career matches. Maria had won their last two meetings: on red clay, in the 1st round of the 2006 German Open, Maria defeated Roberta 6-4, 6-3, and last year, on a hardcourt in the 2nd round in Portoroz, Maria defeated Roberta again, 6-1, 6-2.
    However, recently Roberta has been playing her best tennis since recovering from a shoulder injury last year, including wins earlier this week over her higher-ranked compatriots # 15 Flavia Pennetta and # 47 Francesca Schiavone.

    Roberta is now 2-0 in WTA singles finals; she won her first title in Bogota in 2007. Roberta has a 14-8 match record in 2009.
    Maria is now 5-3 in WTA singles finals; she won in Estoril, Barcelona, and Seoul last year. Maria had a slow start this year before arriving in Barcelona; she now has a 6-7 match record for the season, earning 4 of the 6 Ws in Spain this week.

    YouTube videos: 2009 Barcelona Ladies Open

    An 1893 New York Times story describing Barcelona can be read at the 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 5 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, one of the longest-running WTA-only events in the US, 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. 2009: On Monday, April 13, Caroline Wozniacki, last week's champ at Ponte Vedra Beach, got right to work in Charleston signing autographs along with top seed Elena Dementieva... Players alerting the media on Monday at the press "All-Access Hour" included Venus Williams and Nadia Petrova... row 2: Dominika Cibulkova, Marion Bartoli, Vera Zvonareva, and Patty Schnyder also met the press in Charleston on Monday, when they were photographed by someone apparently seeking employment with Sergio Leone...

Charleston, 1st Round, Mon-Tue 10am loser's prize: $$2,377 US; points: 1 Full entry list from tourney website; seeds will be based on the April 5 rankings # Serena Williams USA # Caroline Wozniacki DEN # Victoria Azarenka BLR # Jelena Jankovic SRB # Samantha Stosur AUS # Maria Sharapova RUS # Marion Bartoli FRA # Vera Zvonareva RUS # Nadia Petrova RUS # Alona Bondarenko UKR # Daniela Hantuchova SVK # Sabine Lisicki GER # Alisa Kleybanova RUS # Kateryna Bondarenko UKR # Aleksandra Wozniak CAN # Melanie Oudin USA # Patty Schnyder SUI # Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova RUS # Dominika Cibulkova SVK # Elena Vesnina RUS # Virginie Razzano FRA # Vera Dushevina RUS # Melinda Czink HUN # Sybille Bammer AUT # Olga Govortsova BLR # Magdalena Rybarikova SVK # Shuai Peng CHN # Ekaterina Makarova RUS # Angelique Kerber GER # Barbora Zahlavova Strycova CZE # Julia Goerges GER # Anastasija Sevastova LAT # Vania King USA # Sofia Arvidsson SWE # Alla Kudryavtseva RUS # Jill Craybas USA # Casey Dellacqua AUS # Ayumi Morita JPN # Kai-Chen Chang TPE # Anastasia Rodionova AUS # Mariana Duque Marino COL # Viktoriya Kutuzova UKR # Rossana de los Rios PAR + 5 wild cards and 8 qualifiers; top 8 players will receive 1st round byes next in; possibly in the qualifying draw: # Shenay Perry USA # Evgenia Rodina RUS

Charleston, 2nd Round, Tue-Wed 10am loser's prize: $4,634 US; points: 40

Charleston, 3rd Round, Thu 11am ESPN2-TV & Eurosport loser's prize: $9,195 US; points: 60

Charleston, QFs, Fri 11am ESPN2-TV & Eurosport loser's prize: $17,936 US; points: 120

Charleston, SFs, Sat 1pm ESPN2-TV & Eurosport loser's prize: $50,464 US; points: 200

Charleston, Final, Sun 1pm ESPN2-TV & Eurosport loser's prize: $97,418 US; points: 320 winner's prize: $187,815 US; points: 470

Charleston, Doubles Final 11am, before singles losers' prize: $21,293 US winners' prize: $41,134 US Charleston, Qual Finals, Sun Apr 11 10am losers' prizes: q1 $629 1pt; q2 $1,210 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). 2009: On Saturday, April 11, in Barcelona, co-tourney director and former WTA # 3 Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario was at the main draw... On Monday, Maria Kirilenko, last year's tourney champ, was interviewed at David Lloyd Club Turó...

Barcelona, 1st Round, Mon 10am, Tue 11am loser's prize: $1,725 US; points: 1 partial entry list, seeds will be based on the April 5 rankings # Francesca Schiavone ITA # Aravane Rezai FRA # Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez ESP # Anabel Medina Garrigues ESP # Gisela Dulko ARG # Maria Kirilenko RUS # Lucie Safarova CZE # Sorana Cirstea ROU # Carla Suarez Navarro ESP # Andrea Petkovic GER # Yaroslava Shvedova KAZ # Sara Errani ITA # Alexandraw Dulgheru ROU # Iveta Benesova CZE # Timea Bacsinszky SUI # Tathiana Garbin ITA # Roberta Vinci ITA # sr Tamira Paszek AUT # Anna-Lena Groenefeld GER # Petra Kvitova CZE # Stefanie Vogele SUI # Lucie Hradecka CZE # Regina Kulikova RUS # Anna Chakvetadze RUS + 4 wild cards and 4 qualifiers possible wild cards: # Nuria Llagostera Vives ESP # Arantxa Parra Santonja ESP # Lourdes Dominguez Lino ESP next in; possibly in the qualifying draw: # Alberta Brianti ITA # Kristina Barrois GER

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

Barcelona, QFs, Fri noon & 1pm; Sat (due to rain Fri) 10:30am loser's prize: $5,340 US; points: 70

Barcelona, SFs, Sat 2:30pm+ loser's prize: $10,200 US; points: 130

Barcelona, Final, Sun 1pm+ loser's prize: $19,000 US; points: 200 winner's prize: $37,000 US; points: 280

Barcelona, Doubles Final, Sun 11am loser's prize: $5,750 US winner's prize: $11,000 US Barcelona, Qual Finals, Mon Apr 12 11am losers' prizes: q1 $265 1pt; q2 $460 6pts; q3 $860 10pts; qualifier 16 points Barcelona, Withdrawals

    The total compensation for the 2009 Family Circle Cup was raised from $700,000 to $1,000,000 at a late date. The increase is mostly in the later rounds: 1st round qualifying losers (who usually really need the money) received $629 instead of $520 (a 21% increase), but the tourney champion (who usually doesn't need the money) received $187,815 instead of $107,000 (a 76% increase).

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.