WTA Aug 23-28: New Haven Pilot Pen Open, New Haven, CT PREMIER $600,000 30m/32q/16d outdoor: hard Free Live Video: 1 - 2 - 3 Live Scores - in popup window draws: WTA: Q - main - D - OOP pics: DL Y!: sports - news | WTA NH Register - Hartford Courant New Haven: radar - forecast #2 Caroline Wozniacki #6 Samantha Stosur #7 Francesca Schiavone #8 Elena Dementieva #15 Yanina Wickmayer #17 Marion Bartoli #20 Flavia Pennetta #21 Nadia Petrova #22 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova #23 Maria José Martinez Sanchez #24 Jie Zheng #27 Maria Kirilenko #28 Daniela Hantuchova

Tourney pages: New Haven: 2009 - 2008 - 2007 - 2006 - 2005 - 2004 - 2003 previous other tourney pages next New Haven: #21 Nadia Petrova 5'10¼" 143lb RH 2H-BH New Haven: #2 Caroline Wozniacki 5' 10" 128lb RH 2H-BH

On Saturday in New Haven, in the final of the Pilot Pen Open, last week's champion in Montreal (and the top seed at next week's US Open), 20-year-old top-seeded #2 (career-high: also #2) Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark (residence: Monte Carlo, Monaco), defeated the 2008 champion at Cincinnati, 28-year-old 8th-seeded #21 Nadia Petrova of Russia (residence: like Caroline, income tax-free Monte Carlo), 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 (Nadia is shown during the match; Caroline with the glassware afterward).     It is the third straight year that Caroline has won the New Haven title. Caroline's prize is $98,500; Nadia's is $52,500.     Hammer-thrower's daughter Nadia struck 12 aces (with 6 double faults). But Caroline, who hit only 4 aces (with 2 DFs), won 61% of her 1st serve points (Nadia: 52%). Caro converted 6 of the 15 break points she reached against Nadia, while Nadia scored on 5 of the 11 break points she held against Caroline.     Caroline, has now won 10 straight matches on hard courts, and 16 of her last 17 leading up to the US Open. She has been playing a great deal, and has sometimes had to call the trainer for treatment during matches. But, Caroline said: "I feel great. I have a Tuesday start. I’m on a roll." AP story     Caroline now leads Nadia 3-1 in career matches. Nadia's win over Caroline came in Moscow in 2008, 6-4, 3-2 retired, when Caroline could not continue due to upper respiratory illness. Caroline's earlier wins over Nadia were both this year, on a Plexipave hardcourt in the 4th round at Indian Wells, 6-3, 3-6. 6-0, and on Har-Tru green clay in the quarterfinals at Charleston, 6-3, 6-4.     2009 US Open finalist Caroline is now 10-7 in WTA singles finals; she won at Montreal last week, at Copenhagen three weeks ago, and Ponte Vedra Beach earlier this year. Caroline has a 45-14 singles match record this season.

    On Thursday, Caroline clinched the US Open Series title. Winning the US Open Series means that Caroline will receive a bonus added to her US Open prize money this year, and, if she wins the US Open title, the bonus will be one million dollars.

    Nadia is now 9-11 in WTA singles finals; she won in Cincinnati and Quebec City in 2008, but she had not reached a final since then. Nadia has a 27-16 singles match record in 2010.

    This was the last year that Pilot Pen will be the New Haven tournament's principal sponsor; the tourney searching for new backing. Caroline said: "I love this tournament. It’s been great preparation for me the last couple of years, so I would love to come back."

    (Oct 21, 2010) The New Haven pro tennis tourney will become a WTA-only event in 2011, and several sponsors combined are replacing Pilot Pen, formerly the tourney's principal sponsor. New sponsors include Aetna and American Express, and they have committed to support the tourney for at least three years. AP story

WTA SCOREBOARD: New Haven s=seed, #=rank, *=upset, LL=lucky loser ranks are for the previous week How do players get into the "draw"? The Pilot Pen Open  New Haven, Connecticut   NWS weather radar tourney time:        = GMT -6 hours        = US EDT        = US PDT+3 Connecticut news Weather Forecast | Weather Maps | Weather Radar   click for broader view   Yale University tennis courts, New Haven, CT Lat.: 41.311203 Lon.: -72.959561 goto link for World Wind     New Haven: The main draw for New Haven has 8 seeds, with 2 1st-round byes. There are 4 qualifiers and 4 wild cards in the main draw. Qualifying finals are on Sunday - and main draw play begins on Sunday. Yale University interactive campus map 2010: On Sunday, Aug 22 in New Haven, 2009 tourney finalist Elena Vesnina met the press in after defeating Roberta Vinci in their qualy final (Elena looks a bit tuckered out because she flew from Montreal to New Haven on Saturday morning, won 2 qualifying matches on Saturday, then the final on Sunday)... On Monday, Olga Govortsova celebrated her 22nd birthday with Elena, Alisa Kleybanova, Vania King, and Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova... also on Monday, Elena Dementieva posed with fans at the autograph booth...

New Haven, 1st Rd, Sun-Tue 10am Mon AP story - Tue AP story - Tue NHR notes loser's prize: $4,300 US; points: 1 Sunday: rain prevented play, qualy finals were played indoors *#70 wc Dinara Safina RUS d #7 s3 Francesca Schiavone ITA 1-6, 6-3, 6-1 Mon Francesca and Dinara driving forehand and backhand #8 s4 wc Elena Dementieva RUS d #23 MJ Martinez Sanchez ESP 6-1, 6-2 ppd-Mon Elena volleying a backhand     Elena was expecting a rainout. Elena said: "Yesterday, we were waiting more than 10 hours, practicing indoors, expecting to be playing today indoors. I feel lucky to be second on and finish the match." *#49 Timea Bacsinzsky SUI d #15 s5 Yanina Wickmayer BEL 6-3, 6-1 Tue #17 s6 Marion Bartoli FRA d #30 Alona Bondarenko UKR 6(4)-7, 7-6(2), 6-3 Tue     About the high winds, Marion said: "I was aiming in the middle and my ball was ending up 10 centimeters from the baseline or from the right or left line."     About the weather in general, Marion said: "Last year it was about the same the whole summer. This year we have going quite [beautiful] weather in California to being extremely hot in Cincinnati, a lot of rain in Cincinnati. Then coming here, it is so windy and cold. It is very, very tough. You have to adjust your game. Usually when you are on a roll of playing four or five tournaments in a row, you are getting used to the conditions because they are similar, but this year coming from West Coast to East Coast, it is just different." #20 s7 Flavia Pennetta ITA d #26 Alisa Kleybanova RUS 6-4, 6-4 Tue #21 s8 Nadia Petrova RUS d #109 q Varvara Lepchenko USA 1-6, 7-5, 6-1 Mon     Nadia said: "That was a very interesting match in the beginning. I didn’t know what was going on. Every ball I touch, it was going anywhere else except on the court. It was from the first ball and I started picking up my game in the beginning of the second set and then I again dropped my serve.     "Watching [Varvara] when it gets really tight and she is just about to beat a top player, she always gets really nervous. That is exactly what happened. I started winning game by game and when it became 5-5, I became more confident and going for my shots." New Haven Register story *#35 Sara Errani ITA d #24 Jie Zheng CHN 6-1, 6-2 Mon #27 Maria Kirilenko RUS d #41 q Elena Vesnina RUS 6-1, 3-6, 6-1 Tue     Strong, swirling winds made play difficult. Maria said: "[In the 2nd set] I started to make a lot of double faults, and my serve didn’t work at all. In the third set, my serve started to feel better."     About the weather in general, Maria said: "In the first two tournaments [of the summer] it was really good to play, the weather was just perfect. Then I went to Cincinnati and it was so humid. When I played my first match, I felt like I was going to die. It was unbelievably difficult to play.     "When I went to Montreal, there was unbelievable wind so there was a different condition, I had to adapt to everything. Here, when I got here it was quite humid as well, but the last couple of days it was so windy again. You never know what is going to happen the next day." postmatch interview video #28 Daniela Hantuchova SVK d #34 Kaia Kanepi EST 7-5, 6-3 Mon *#101 q Bethanie Mattek-Sands USA d #29 Alexandra Dulgheru ROU 6-2, 6-1 Mon *#50 Kateryna Bondarenko UKR d #31 Petra Kvitova CZE 7-5, 6-3 ppd-Mon *#62 q Anastasia Rodionova AUS d #33 Tsvetana Pironkova BUL 6-1, 7-5 Tue *#51 Olga Govortsova BLR d #36 Andrea Petkovic GER 6-2, 6-2 Tue *#45 LL Dominika Cibulkova SVK d #44 Melanie Oudin USA 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 ppd-Mon Melanie and Dominika driving forehand and backhand, and Melanie congratulating Dominika after match point

New Haven, 2nd Rd, Tue-Wed 10am losers' prize: $8,000 US; points: 60 #2 s1 Caroline Wozniacki DEN d #45 LL Dominika Cibulkova SVK 6-4, 6-1 Wed Dominika and Caroline driving backhands #6 s2 wc Samantha Stosur AUS d #35 Sara Errani ITA 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(4) Tue Sara following a forehand, Samantha driving a backhand, and after match point     Samantha had withdrawn from the Cincinnati and Montreal tourneys due to pain in her right arm.     Samantha said: “Even being 100 percent fine going into this match, the match is always a little bit different. I hadn’t taken more than 30 serves in any practice session yet, so it was a good test for tonight. My fingers are crossed it stays that way and to get through a match like that without any pain is a success...     "[Sara] played very well. She made every single return and made me work for every return point. She was definitely a very tough opponent today. When you miss some easy balls, sure, it’s partly not being match fit, and all that comes along with it." New Haven Register story #8 s4 wc Elena Dementieva RUS d #50 Kateryna Bondarenko UKR 7-6(4), 6(5)-7, 6-4 Wed Elena and Kateryna driving forehands, and Elena following one #17 s6 Marion Bartoli FRA d #62 q Anastasia Rodionova AUS 6-3, 6-1 Wed Marion's 2-handed forehand with backhand grip #20 s7 Flavia Pennetta ITA d #51 Olga Govortsova BLR 6-3, 6-2 Wed #21 s8 Nadia Petrova RUS d #101 q Bethanie Mattek-Sands USA 6-3, 6-2 Wed Nadia serving #27 Maria Kirilenko RUS d #49 Timea Bacsinzsky SUI 6-3, 6-1 Wed #70 wc Dinara Safina RUS d #28 Daniela Hantuchova SVK 7-6(4), 7-6(2) Wed Daniela and Dinara driving forehand and backhand

New Haven, QFs, Thu 10am losers' prize: $15,100 US; points: 120 #2 s1 Caroline Wozniacki DEN d #20 s7 Flavia Pennetta ITA     walkover—right foot injury — Caroline clinched US Open Series *#21 s8 Nadia Petrova RUS d #6 s2 wc Samantha Stosur AUS 6-2, 6-1 Samantha driving a forehand, and Nadia after match point #8 s4 wc Elena Dementieva RUS d #17 s6 Marion Bartoli FRA 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 Marion moving into position, and Elena driving a forehand #27 Maria Kirilenko RUS d #70 wc Dinara Safina RUS 6-3, 6-3 Maria after winning a point

New Haven, SFs, Fri noon & 7pm losers' prize: $28,100 US; points: 200 #2 s1 Caroline Wozniacki DEN d #8 s4 wc Elena Dementieva RUS 1-6, 6-3, 7-6(5) Elena driving a forehand, Caroline reaching for a backhand, and Caro after match point #21 s8 Nadia Petrova RUS d #27 Maria Kirilenko RUS 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 Maria and Nadia driving forehands, and Nadia after match point

New Haven, Final, Sat 1pm loser's prize: $52,500 US; points: 320 winner's prize: $98,500 US; points: 470 #2 s1 Caroline Wozniacki DEN d #21 s8 Nadia Petrova RUS 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 Caroline driving a forehand, Nadia and Caroline driving backhands, and Caro after match point

New Haven, Doubles Final, Sat eve losers' prize: $16,500 US winners' prize: $31,000 US Kveta Peschke & Katarina Srebotnik d Bethanie Mattek-Sands & Meghann Shaughnessy 7-5, 6-0 New Haven, Qualifying Finals, Sun Aug 22 10am losers' prizes: q1 $660 1pt; q2 $1,230 8pts; q3 $2,300 12pts; qualifier 20 points Qualy finals were played indoors due to rain #41 Elena Vesnina RUS d #58 Roberta Vinci ITA 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 *#62 Anastasia Rodionova AUS d #45 Dominika Cibulkova SVK 6-4, 7-6(4) *#101 Bethanie Mattek-Sands USA d #65 Vera Dushevina RUS 6-3, 6-2 *#109 Varvara Lepchenko USA d #94 Alla Kudryavtseva RUS 6-4, 6-4 New Haven, Withdrawals #22 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova RUS shoulder & hip injuries #39 wc Ana Ivanovic SRB left ankle injury     Ana injured her ankle in Cincinnati. On Friday, Ana said: "I practised for the first time on Thursday and I felt a lot of pain. And today, when I went on the court again, it was just getting worse. There's no way I will be ready for the tournament... I am confident that I will be okay for the US Open.

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.