WTA Oct 11-17: Osaka & Linz Japan Open Osaka, Japan INTL $220,000 32m/32q/16d outdoor: hard Live Scores draws: WTA photos: Y!: sports - news | WTA Osaka: radar - forecast # , # # , # Generali Ladies Linz, AUT INTL $220,000 32m/32q/16d indoor: hard Live Scores draws: WTA draw, .html photos: Y!: sports - news | WTA Linz: weather radar - forecast # , # # , #

Osaka & Linz: 2009   Tokyo JO: 2008 - 2007 - 2006 - 2005 - 2004 - 2003 Linz: 2008 - 2007 - 2006 - 2005 - 2004 - 2003 previous other tourney pages next Osaka 2009: #14 Samantha Stosur 5'7¾" 143lb RH 2H-BH Linz 2009: #25 Yanina Wickmayer 6'0" 150lb RH 2H-BH

    The Osaka & Linz 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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  Osaka, 2009:

    On Sunday in Osaka, Japan, in the final of the Japan Open, this year's finalist in Los Angeles, 25-year-old 3rd-seeded #14 Samantha Stosur from Gold Coast, Australia, won her first WTA singles title by defeating 29-year-old 4th-seeded #26 Francesca Schiavone of Italy (residence: London, England), 7-5, 6-1 (Samantha is shown with the hardware after the match).

    Samantha's prize is $37,000; Francesca's is $19,000.

    Samantha said: "I played very well in the first set and barely made a mistake—I was still playing well in the second and nearly led 4-1 but [Francesca] got back into the match. I just told myself not to panic, keep doing the same things as I did in the first set and stay positive. I tried to do what I wanted to do and not let anything frustrate me...
    "I'm very, very pleased to win my first title after losing five previous finals. It has been a personal goal for a while, so I'm glad to have achieved it and it's the perfect way to finish my year in singles. My next goal is to reach the Top 10, for which I would need to play like today every day." WTA story

    Francesca said: "The first set was very close, but [Samantha] took her chances and deserved to win. I gave her nothing for free. She won every point."

    Samantha now leads Francesca 4-1 in career matches, and Sam defeated Fresca in both their prior meetings this year: on a hardcourt in the 1st round at Indian Wells, 6-1, 6-4, and on red clay in the 1st round at Roland Garros, 6-4, 6-2.
    Samantha, a semifinalist at this year's French Open and winner of 22 WTA doubles titles, is now 1-5 in WTA singles finals; she lost to Flavia Pennetta in this year's LA final, 6-4, 6-3. Samantha has been playing well all year, and has a 37-19 singles match record for the season.
    Francesca is now 1-10 in WTA singles finals; she won the title at Bad Gastein in 2007. Francesca, who got off to a slow start this year, but reached the Wimbledon quarterfinals and the 4th round at the US Open, has a 34-26 match record in 2009.

  Osaka, 2009:

    Meanwhile in Linz, Austria, in the final of the Generali Ladies Linz, 19-year-old 3rd-seeded #25 Yanina Wickmayer from Deurne, Belgium, defeated 19-year-old unseeded #54 Petra Kvitova from Fulnek, Czech Republic, 6-3, 6-4 (Yanina is also shown with the hardware after the match).

    Yanina's prize is $37,000; Petra's is $19,000.

    Yanina said: "It was another good match, we both played really strong and served well. I knew the key today was going to be who was the most mentally tough. I really enjoyed the crowd all week, they were really behind me." WTA story

    Petra said: "Yanina played very well today. I think she played her crosscourt and down-the-line backhands very well, and her serve was really good. I've had a great week here in Linz and I'm really looking forward to next year."

    Yanina now leads Petra 3-1 in career matches, and won their previous match, on a Deco-Turf hardcourt in the 4th round of this year's US Open, 4-6, 6-4, 7-5.
    Yanina is now 2-2 in WTA singles finals; she reached her first final last year at Birmingham, and won the Estoril title this year. Yanina has a 51-21 singles match record for 2009.
    Petra is now 1-1 in WTA singles finals; she won the Hobart title the first week of this season. Petra has a 23-20 singles match record this year.

Linz player's blog by Yanina Wickmayer

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WTA SCOREBOARD: Osaka & Linz s=seed, #=rank, *=upset, LL=lucky loser ranks are for the previous week How do players get into the "draw"? HP Japan Open,  Osaka, Japan   tourney time:        = GMT +9 hours        = US EDT +13 hours        = US PDT +16 hours Tokyo News - Japan News Weather Forecast | Weather Maps | Weather Radar Osaka: The main draw for Osaka 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   possible venue: Utsubo Tennis Center, Osaka Latitude: 34.68457 Longitude: 135.491542 goto link for World Wind AIG Japan Open possible venue address: Utsubo Tennis Center, 2-1-14 Utsubohonmachi, Nishi-Ku, Osaka-Shi, Osaka, Japan 2009: On Sunday, Oct 11, in Osaka, players attending a welcome reception included all-time Japanese #1 (and former WTA #4) Kimiko Date Krumm (shown individaully and in the group), Samantha Stosur, Akiko Morigami, who is retiring after this tournament, Kimiko again, Francesca Schiavone, 2008 tourney champ and top seed Caroline Wozniacki, 19-year-old current Japanese # 1 Ayumi Morita, and Marion Bartoli... US Open finalist Caroline signed autographs (on Wednesday?)...

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

Osaka, 2nd Rd, Wed 10am-Thu 11am loser's prize: $2,950 US; points: 30

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

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

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

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

Generali Ladies,  Linz, Austria   tourney time:        = GMT +2 hours        = US EDT +6 hours        = US PDT +9 hours Austria News Weather Forecast | Weather Maps | Weather Radar     Linz: The main draw for Linz has 8 seeds, with 4 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   Intersport Arena Linz Latitude: 48.293444 Longitude: 14.276068 goto link for World Wind Generali Ladies venue address:     Intersport Arena Linz Ziegeleistrasse, 4020 Linz Austria Intersport Arena Linz. Ziegeleistraße 76-78 Linz, Upper Austria 4020 2009: On Saturday, October 11 in Linz, Sorana Cirstea, Austrian #1 Sybille Bammer, retired former Austrian #1 (and WTA #7) Barbara Schett-Eagle, and tourney director Sandra Reichel participated in the main draw ceremony... row 2: Aravane Rezai prepped for the players party on Monday, where good looking healthy young ladies who donned their dirndls and hit the floor included Alexandra Dulgheru, top seed Flavia Pennetta, and a smiling Iona Raluca Olaru (perhaps someone just told Iona she would reach the quarterfinals this week)...

Linz, 1st Rd, Mon-Tue 11am & noon; Wed 2pm loser's prize: $1,725 US; points: 1

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

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

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

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

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