WTA Oct 18-24 Kremlin Cup, Moscow, Russia PREMIER $1,000,000 32m/32q/16d indoor: supreme Free Live Video: Live Scores draws: WTA tourney: M draw - video photos: Y!: sports - news Moscow: weather - map Gazeta.ru: Tennis (RUS) ENG # , # # , # BNP Paribas Open, Luxembourg INTL $220,000 32m/32q/16d indoor: hard Live Scores Free Live Video: draws: WTA tourn.: M draw | pics: Ynews Europe radar - Lux. Weather # , # # , #

Moscow & LUX: 2009   Moscow: 2008 - 2007 - 2006 - 2005 - 2004 - 2003 Luxembourg: 2008 - 2007 - 2006 - 2005 - 2004 - 2003 previous other tourney pages next Luxembourg 2009: #70 Timea Bacsinszky 5'7" 137lb RH 2H-BH Moscow 2009: #26 Francesca Schiavone 5'5½" 141lb RH 1H-BH

    The Moscow & Luxembourg 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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  Moscow, 2009:

On Sunday in Moscow, Russia, in the final of the Kremlin Cup, last week's finalist in Osaka, 29-year-old 8th-seeded #26 (and former #11) Francesca Schiavone of Italy (residence: London, England), defeated 21-year-old unseeded #66 Olga Govortsova from Minsk, Belarus, 6-3, 6-0 (Francesca is shown holding the Kremlin Cup).     Francesca's prize is $157,427; Olga's is $83,908.     Francesca said: "At the start it was a fight. We had a big game, the sixth game of the first set, that lasted about 15 minutes. I won it to go up 4-2, then I won the first set. In the second set I was very solid. When I got to 4-0 in the second set I looked at the trophy and said to myself, 'I'm coming to get you!'" WTA story     Olga said: "It's difficult to play with Francesca on this [hard court] surface. She practically made no mistakes. She made me run a lot in the first set and it had an impact on me later in the match...     "Francesca played very well today. I was trying my best and in the first set there were a lot of long games, especially that sixth game, but she didn't miss much. It was the first time I've played here and I was happy to get to the final of such a big event. It'll give me confidence for next year." AP story

    Francesca now leads Olga 2-1 in career matches; both their prior meetings were this year. In January on a hard court in the 1st round at Brisbane, Olga defeated Francesca 7-5, 6-2. But in June, on a chlorophyll court in the quarterfinals at 's-Hertogenbosch, Francesca defeated Olga 6-1, 6-3.

    Francesca is now 2-10 in WTA singles finals (but has won two of her last three); she won her first title at Bad Gastein in 2007. Francesca, a 2009 Wimbledon quarterfinalist, has won 9 of her last 10 singles matches, and has a 38-26 match record this year. In less than two weeks, Francesca and Flavia Pennetta will be leading the Italian team against the USA in this year's Fed Cup final.

    Olga is now 0-2 in WTA singles finals; she reached the Memphis final last year. She has won 2 WTA doubles titles and 2 ITF singles titles. Olga has a 31-27 match record for the year.

  Luxembourg, 2009:

    On Sunday in Luxembourg, in the final of the BNP Paribas Open, 20-year-old unseeded #70 Timea Bacsinszky from Lausanne, Switzerland, defeated this year's winner in Charleston, 20-year-old 6th-seeded #28 Sabine Lisicki from Berlin, Germany, 6-2, 7-5 (Timea is shown making friends with the very "arty" Luxembourg hardware).

    Timea's prize is $37,000; Sabine's is $19,000.

    Sabine and Timea had met only once before, on a hard court in February of this year in Fed Cup play, when Sabine won, 6-0, 6-4.

    Timea was playing in her first WTA singles final; she has won 6 ITF singles finals and 5 ITF doubles titles. Timea has a 31-18 match record in 2009.
    Sabine is now 1-2 in WTA singles finals; she won at Charleston thie year and reached the Tashkent final last year. Sabine is 30-17 in matches this season.

Moscow player's blog by Vera Zvonareva - Luxembourg player's blog by Sabine Lisicki

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WTA SCOREBOARD: Moscow & Luxembourg s=seed, #=rank, *=upset, LL=lucky loser ranks are for the previous week How do players get into the "draw"? Kremlin Cup,  Moscow, Russia   tourney time:        = GMT +4 hours        = US EDT +8 hours        = US PDT +11 hours Moscow News - Russia News Weather Forecast | Weather Maps | Weather Radar     Moscow: The main draw for Moscow 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   Olympiisky Stadium, Moscow, Russia Latitude: 55.782027 Longitude: 37.626286 goto link for World Wind     Kremlin Cup venue address: Olympiisky Sports Complex, 16 Olympiisky Pr., Metro: Prospekt Mira, Tel. 288-5322 2009: On Sunday, October 18, those attending the players party at the Black Berry restaurant in Moscow included Muscovites Nadia Petrova and Vera Zvonareva, and Vera Dushevina (who hails from Khimki, in the 'burbs)... row 2: At the press All Access Hour on Monday, Vera Zvonareva enjoyed doing the top seed thing at her home tourney, while Nadia perhaps had somewhat less fun answering the nice questions from the friendly reporters... On Tuesday, Elena Vesnina (from Sochi, on the Black Sea) and Agnieszka Radwanska paid a visit to WTA EuroSponsor Whirlpool's booth...

Moscow, 1st Rd, Mon-Wed 11am loser's prize: $6,872 US; points: 1

Moscow, 2nd Rd, Wed-Thu 11am losers' prize: $12,786 US; points: 60

Moscow, QFs, Fri 11am losers' prize: $24,133 US; points: 120

Moscow, SFs, Sat 1pm losers' prize: $44,911 US; points: 200

Moscow, Final, Sun 1pm loser's prize: $83,908 US; points: 320 winner's prize: $157,427 US; points: 470

Moscow, Doubles Final, Sat 5pm losers' prize: $26,371 US winners' prize: $49,546 US Moscow, Qual Finals, Mon Oct 18 11am losers' prizes: q1 $1,055 1pt; q2 $1,966 8pts; q3 $3,676 12pts; qualifier 20 points Moscow, Withdrawals

Fortis Championships,  Luxembourg, Luxembourg   tourney time:        = GMT +2 hours        = US EDT +6 hours        = US PDT +9 hours Luxembourg News Weather Forecast | Weather Maps | Weather Radar     Luxembourg: The main draw for Luxembourg 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   CK Sport Center, Kockelscheuer, Luxembourg Latitude: 49.573499 Longitude: 6.109799 goto link for World Wind Fortis Championships venue address: CK Sport Center, 20 route de Bettembourg, L-1899 Kockelscheuer, LUX 2009: On Monday, October 19, in Luxembourg, Sabine Lisicki signed autographs after her 1st round win... On Wednesday, former # 1 Justine Henin, who is returning from retirement in January, gave a tennis clinic for teenage fans...

Luxembourg, 1st Rd, Mon 10am, Tue-Wed 11am loser's prize: $1,725 US; points: 1

Luxembourg, 2nd Rd, Wed-Thu 1pm loser's prize: $2,950 US; points: 30

Luxembourg, QFs, Fri 1pm loser's prize: $5,340 US; points: 70

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

Luxembourg, Final, Sun 3pm loser's prize: $19,000 US; points: 200 winner's prize: $37,000 US; points: 280

Luxembourg, Doubles Final, Sun noon before singles loser's prize: $5,750 US winner's prize: $11,000 US Luxembourg, Qual Finals, Mon Oct 20 10am losers' prizes: q1 $265 1pt; q2 $460 6pts; q3 $860 10pts; qualifier 16 points Luxembourg, Withdrawals

    (Oct 22, 2009) The Tennis Integrity Unit, formed last year by the assorted governing bodies of pro tennis, is reportedly investigating the Tuesday, Oct 20, 1st round match in Luxembourg between top-seeded #6 Caroline Wozniacki and #876 Anne Kremer. Caroline retired from the match while leading 7-5, 5-0 due to left hamstring strain.
    Caroline's coach and father, Piotr, told her at 3-0 in the 2nd set to retire before winning because her injury would prevent her from playing in the next round. Although Caroline was born and raised in Denmark, her parents are Polish, and Piotr's remarks to her were in Polish. Microphones picked up his statements to Caroline, and his remarks were heard by those watching the match in streaming video on the Internet. The result, apparently, was a large amount of money rapidly bet on Anne Kremer.

    On Danish radio on Thursday, Piotr said: "I went onto the court and said to her: 'Caro, it does not matter whether it's going to be 5-0, 4-1 or 3-2. You can not play the next round, so you shouldn't take the risk.' I'm very proud of Caroline, because she stopped the fight and gave her opponent a chance."
    In the Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet, Caroline said: "So, people bet on my matches. Some win, others lose. I just know that I am clean. It is most important to me. And if anyone is in doubt about my injury, I can both produce scan from the hospital and a report from the tournament physiotherapist."

    There is little doubt that the incident was unintended by the Wozniackis. The real questions appear to be:
    1) Why was Caroline playing at all if she was injured going into the match? (particularly with the WTA Championships next week), and
    2) Why did Caroline not retire from the match earlier, at the point when her father made his remarks to her?

    The fact is that WTA and tournament officials put a lot of pressure on players, particularly "superstars," to play even if injured, and, if they must withdraw or retire, to do so as late as possible. It is likely that the Wozniackis were trying to be helpful to the tourney (and the WTA). Caroline, the top seed, might have withdrawn before the match, a tourney director's nightmare. Instead, she played and retired as late as possible (allowing a local player to advance to the next round), knowing the hamstring strain would have a week to heal before the Championships.
    Now, for trying to be helpful, they get a deluge of headlines associating their name with a gambling investigation. AP story

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.