WTA Sep 26-Oct 2: Tokyo Pan Pacific Toray Pan Pacific Open, Tokyo, JPN PREMIER 5 $2,000,000 56m/32q/16d outdoor: hard Live Scores draws: WTA photos: Y!: sports - news | WTA sports news: Yomiuri - Asahi Tokyo: radar - forecast - map - map2 # # # # # # # # # # # # #

Tokyo Pan Pacific: 2009 - 2008 - 2007 - 2006 - 2005 - 2004 previous other tourney pages next Tokyo 2009: #8 Jelena Jankovic 5'9½" 130lb RH 2H-BH Tokyo 2009: #25 Maria Sharapova 6'2" 130lb RH 2H-BH

    The Tokyo draws are not yet available as of this writing (qualifying draws for this tourney will be posted on the Thursday before the tourney begins, the main draw will likely be posted on Friday). The links are above.

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  Tokyo, 2009:

On Saturday in Tokyo, Japan, in the final of the Pan Pacific Open, the 2005 tourney champion, 22-year-old unseeded #25 (and former #1) Maria Sharapova of Russia (residences: Manhattan Beach, California & Bradenton, Florida), won again, defeating this year's champ in Cincinnati, 24-year-old 7th-seeded #8 (former #1) Jelena Jankovic from Belgrade, Serbia, 5-2, retired when Jelena could no longer continue due to a right arm injury (Jelena is shown, obviously in pain, during the match, and Maria holding the ceramicware afterward). Maria's prize is $350,000; Jelena's is $175,000.     It was Maria's first title since returning to play this summer after a 10 month layoff due to a prolonged right shoulder injury.     Maria said: "It was a tough start today. Jelena started off so strong. It was my second final of the year and I was a bit nervous. But I played well enough this week to know I could give her a good match. Unfortunately Jelena had to stop. I wish her a speedy recovery, and hopefully we can play again soon...     "This tournament was a really good challenge for me. Having to play six matches in six days, I knew it was going to be a good test of what I can do." AP story - WTA story

    Jelena said: "When you get an injury, you don't know if you can play or not. My wrist and whole arm is inflamed and swollen and I don't know when I will recover."

    Both Jelena and Maria were trained, and still train, at the Bollettieri Academy in Bradenton, Florida. Maria now leads Jelena 5-1 in career matches, and Maria also won their previous encounter, on a hardcourt early last year in the Australian Open semifinals, 6-3, 6-1. Jelena's win over Maria was on a chlorophyll court, in the 2007 Birmingham final, 4-6, 6-3, 7-5.

    2004 Wimbledon, 2006 US Open, and 2008 Australian Open champion Maria is now 20-8 in WTA singles finals. Due to right shoulder rotator cuff tendon tears, she played only one match (a doubles match) between August, 2008, and May, 2009. She says that her shoulder has now completely healed, and her results seem to indicate that it has. Maria has a 31-8 match record this season.

    2008 US Open finalist Jelena is now 11-11 in WTA singles finals; she won in Cincinnati and Marbella this year, and in Rome, Beijing, Stuttgart, and Moscow last year, and ended 2008 ranked # 1 in the WTA. Jelena has a 43-15 match record this year.

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WTA SCOREBOARD: Tokyo s=seed, #=rank, *=upset, LL=lucky loser ranks are for the previous week How do players get into the "draw"? Toray Pan Pacific Open,  Tokyo, Japan   tourney time:        = GMT +9 hours        = US EDT +13 hours        = US PDT +16 hours Tokyo News - Japan News Weather Forecast | Weather Maps | Weather Radar Tokyo: The main draw for Tokyo has 16 seeds, with 8 1st-round byes. There are 8 qualifiers in the main draw.     Qualifying (2 rounds) starts on Friday, qualifying finals are on Saturday.   click for broader view   Ariake Tennis Forest Park, Tokyo, JAP Latitude: 35.635404 Longitude: 139.788226 goto link for World Wind The Toray Pan Pacific Open was previously held in February, indoors at the Tokyo Metropolitan Gymnasium. However, rescheduling of the Fed Cup 1st round resulted in moving the tourney to September, and the venue was changed to the Ariake Tennis Forest Park, the same place where the AIG Japan Open was held for years. The Japan Open has now been moved to Osaka. Toray Pan Pacific Open venue address: Ariake Tennis Forest Park, 2-2-22 Ariake, Koto-ku, Tokyo Although this is an outdoor event, the Center Court stadium has a retractable roof, which is closed in foul weather. 2009: On Friday, September 25 in Tokyo, long-time Japanese #1 (and former WTA #8) Ai Sugiyama, 2nd seed Venus Williams, top seed and 2008 Tokyo champ Dinara Safina, and current Japanese #1 Ayumi Morita addressed members of the media... row 2: Also on Friday in Tokyo, busy Maria Sharapova, 2005 Pan Pacific Open champ, made an appearance to tell folks all about those fine Nike product which she endorses, yet still had time to practice at Ariake Tennis Forest Park... 2009: row 3: On Sunday, Ai Sugiyama (shown about to receive a hug from her current doubles partner, Daniela Hantuchova) was honored at a center court ceremony. 34-year-old Ai is retiring after this year's Pan Pacific Open. Ai reached a career-high ranking of #8 in WTA singles in 2004; she won 6 singles titles during her career. She reached #1 in doubles in 2000, and won 38 WTA doubles titles, including Grand Slam titles at the 2000 US Open and at Roland Garros and Wimbledon in 2003. Ai played in 63 Grand Slam tourney singles main draws in her career, and in every Grand Slam singles main draw from Wimbledon in 1994 through the 2009 US Open, 62 consecutive, an all-time record. After the ceremony, Ai and Daniela won their 1st round doubles match... Also on Sunday, US Open finalist Caroline Wozniacki and Venus Williams played Meet the Press...

Tokyo Pan Pacific, 1st Rd, Sun-Mon 10:30am loser's prize: $5,400 US; points: 1

Tokyo Pan Pacific, 2nd Rd, Mon-Tue 10:30am losers' prize: $10,275 US; points: 70

Tokyo Pan Pacific, 3rd Rd, Wed 10:30am & 11am losers' prize: $20,000 US; points: 125

Tokyo Pan Pacific, QFs, Thu 11am losers' prize: $40,000 US; points: 225

Tokyo Pan Pacific, SFs, Fri noon loser's prize: $87,500 US; points: 395

Tokyo Pan Pacific, Final, Sat 1pm loser's prize: $175,000 US; points: 620 winner's prize: $350,000 US; points: 900

Tokyo Pan Pacific, Doubles Final, Sat losers' prize: $50,000 US winners' prize: $100,000 US Tokyo Pan Pacific, Qual Finals, Sat Sep 25 10:00am losers' prizes: q1 $1,500 1pt; q2 $2,900 20pts; qualifier 30 points Tokyo Pan Pacific, 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.