WTA Sep 19-25: Seoul & Guangzhou Hansol Korea Open, Seoul, KOR INTL $220,000 32m/32q/16d outdoor: hard Deco-Turf tourney video - Free Live Video Live Scores - in popup window draws: WTA: Q - main - D - OOP pics: DL - Y!: sports - news | WTA Seoul forecast Korea News and Links n8 F Schiavone, n10 M Bartoli n21 J Goerges, n22 D Cibulkova International Women's Open Guangzhou, CHN INTL $220,000 32m/32q/16d outdoor: hard Deco-Turf Live Scores - in popup window draws: WTA: Q - main - D - OOP photos: sports21.cn tennis - WTA Guangzhou weather China News and Links n28 M Kirilenko, n30 J Gajdosova n52 K Pervak, n54 P Martic

Seoul & Guangzhou: 2010 - 2009   Seoul: 2008 - 2007 - 2006 - 2005 - 2004 Guangzhou: 2008 - 2007 - 2006 - 2005 - 2004 previous other tourney pages next Guangzhou: #69 Chanelle Scheepers 5'9" RH 2H-BH Seoul: #36 Maria José Martinez Sanchez 5'9¼" 150lb LH 2H-BH

    On Sunday in Seoul, in the final of the Hansol Korean Open, this year's champion in Bad Gastein (and the 2010 champion in Rome), 29 year old 6th seeded #36 (career high: #19) Maria José Martinez Sanchez from Barcelona, Spain, defeated 26 year old #82 (career high: #64) Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan (residence: Moscow, Russia), 7-6(0), 7-6(2) (photo shown).

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

    It was Maria Jose's first hardcourt WTA singles title. Maria Jose said: "I felt very calm in the tie-breaks. That was the key for me. I felt I played well the whole match. I like coming to net and I think it also makes my opponents uncomfortable, so it works well. But Galina played well—this was my toughest match of the week. I had to fight until the end." WTA story

    Maria Jose and Galina had met only once before, in 2008 on red clay in the 2nd round of an ITF tourney in Athens, when Galina defeated Maria Jose 6-4, 4-6, 6-4.

    Maria Jose is now 5-1 in WTA singles finals. She won in Bad Gastein this year, in Rome last year, and in Bogotá and Bastad in 2009. Maria Jose has a 29-18 singles match record this season.

    Galina was playing in her first WTA singles final. She has won 3 ITF singles titles, 3 WTA doubles titles, and 10 ITF doubles titles. Galina, whose play has improved since taking on former WTA player Alina Jidkova as coach this year, has a 49-16 singles match record in 2011, including wins over Maria Sharapova, Flavia Pennetta, and Marion Bartoli.

    On Saturday in China, in the final of the Guangzhou International Women's Open, 27 year old 7th seeded #69 (career high: #65) Chanelle Scheepers from Harrismith, South Africa, won her first WTA singles title by defeating this year's champ in Memphis, 22 year old 8th seeded #72 (career high: #40) Magdalena Rybarikova from Bratislava, Slovakia, 6-2, 6-2 (Chani is shown with the ceramicware after the match).

    Chanelle's prize is $37,000; Magdalena's prize is $19,000.

    Chanelle said: "All of my other matches were tough, but today was the day it all clicked. I thought I was hitting my groundstrokes well. I was really consistent and tried to move [Magdalena] around. I didn't give her a lot of mistakes." WTA story

    Chani and Magda had met only once before, in 2009 on a chlorophyll court in the 2nd round at Birminham, when Magdalena, on her way to her first WTA singles title, defeated Chanelle 6(8)-7, 6-1, 6-3.

    Chanelle was playing in her first WTA singles final. She has won 12 ITF singles titles and 20 ITF doubles titles. Chani has a 27-22 singles match record in 2011.

    Magdalena is now 2-1 in WTA singles finals. She won in Birmingham in 2009, and in Memphis this year. Magda has a 29-16 singles match record this season.

Dominika Cibulkova's Seoul Blog: Friday

WTA SCOREBOARD: Seoul & Guangzhou s=seed, #=rank, *=upset, LL=lucky loser ranks are for the previous week How do players get into the "draw"? Hansol Korea Open,  Seoul, South Korea   tourney time:        = GMT +9 hours        = US EDT +13 hours        = US PDT +16 hours Korea News Weather Forecast | Weather Maps | Weather Radar Seoul: The main draw for Seoul 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   Olympic Park, Seoul, Korea Latitude: 37.515143 Longitude: 127.128205 goto link for World Wind Hansol Korea Open venue address: Olympic Park, 88 Bangee-dong, Seoul 999-200, South Korea; Tel: 82 2 410 1360 2011: Players looking good at the Seoul players party on Sunday, September 18 included Vera Dushevina, 2009 Seoul champ Kimiko Date-Krumm, and Klara Zakopalova & Iveta Benesova...

Seoul, 1st Rd, Mon-Tue noon Tue WTA story loser's prize: $1,725 US; points: 1 *n63 Vera Dushevina RUS d n8 s1 wc Francesca Schiavone ITA 7-6(4), 6-2 Tue     It was Vera's fourth career win over a top 10 player.     Francesca had 14 double faults. Francesca said: "Today I wanted to play aggressively but it just didn't work. I did not serve well. I hoped to play good tennis for the Korean audience. The fans here are very good and I'm feeling sorry about the loss." n10 s2 wc Marion Bartoli FRA d n129 Nuria Llagostera Vives ESP 6-2, 6-2 Tue     Marion said: "It was windy and cold today, so I had to change strategies. But I think I played pretty well. If I can play like this in the next round, I think the result would be fine there, too." n21 s3 Julia Goerges GER d n188 q Yurika Sema JPN 6-1, 6-1 Tue Julia driving a forehand n22 s4 wc Dominika Cibulkova SVK d n120 Arantxa Parra Santonja ESP 6-3, 7-5 Mon Domi volleying a backhand     Dominika said: "It was a tough match, especially in the second set. [Arantxa] plays aggressively. The conditions were also difficult—it started to rain and there was a strong wind too, but I just focused and adapted my game to the weather. I'm happy I was able to win." Dominika Cibulkova's Seoul Blog n35 s5 Polona Hercog SLO d n127 Zuzana Kucova SVK 6-0, 6-2 Tue n36 s6 Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez ESP d n74 Irina Falconi USA 6-3, 6-3 Tue n38 s7 Irina-Camelia Begu ROU d n117 Akgul Amanmuradova UZB 6-1, 6-3 Tue *n82 Galina Voskoboeva KAZ d n43 s8 Ekaterina Makarova RUS 6-4, 6-4 Tue n44 Klara Zakopalova CZE d n46 Ayumi Morita JPN 6-3, 6-4 Mon Klara serving n53 Carla Suarez Navarro ESP d n115 Eva Birnerova CZE 6-4, 6-4 Tue n55 Alexandra Dulgheru ROU d n78 Arantxa Rus NED 2-6, 6-0, 7-5 Mon n57 Iveta Benesova CZE d n79 Anastasiya Yakimova BLR 6-3, 6-2 Tue *n94 Vania King USA d n60 Kimiko Date-Krumm JPN 6-2, 6-2 Tue *n218 q Yaroslava Shvedova KAZ d n84 Tamarine Tanasugarn THA 6-2, 6-0 Tue n87 Eleni Daniilidou GRE d n301 wc So-Jung Kim KOR 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 Tue     2006 Seoul champ Eleni said: "I had a stomach ache during the match and wanted to withdraw in the second set. But then I remembered I was the champion here, and how great the audience was that year, cheering for me—so I fought hard because of them. I'm happy I was finally able to win the match." n208 q Kristyna Pliskova CZE d n377 q Nicole Rottmann AUT 6-1, 7-5 Tue

Seoul, 2nd Rd, Wed-Thu noon Thu WTA story loser's prize: $2,950 US; points: 30 *n94 Vania King USA d n10 s2 wc Marion Bartoli FRA 6-3, 7-5 Wed Vania alerting the media after the match     It was Vania's first win over a top 10 player. Vania said: "I'm very excited to win today. She's the highest-ranked player I have ever beaten. Last time I played her I won just two games, but I've changed a lot and improved things in the last year. I'm much more confident in my abilities and have been working hard to be more creative. I'm happy this hard work is starting to show on court...     "When your size is small [5'5"] you have to be quick, take the ball early and open the court up as much as you can. You have to be a very balanced player too, with a good defensive game. But I try to take control of the rallies when I can - when there are chances, I try to take them." WTA story n21 s3 Julia Goerges GER d n87 Eleni Daniilidou GRE 6-4, 7-5 Thu n22 s4 wc Dominika Cibulkova SVK d n218 q Yaroslava Shvedova KAZ 7-6(4) retired—adductor strain Wed Domi's backhand drive n35 s5 Polona Hercog SLO d n53 Carla Suarez Navarro ESP 6-3, 7-5 Wed n36 s6 Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez ESP d n208 q Kristyna Pliskova CZE 7-6(5), 6-2 Thu     Maria Jose said: "[Kristyna] was serving well. It was hard to break her but in the second set I really focused and gave myself a better chance to win. Normally I win three or four games with serve and volley, and that was working today. My style is different and I like taking risks." *n44 Klara Zakopalova CZE d n38 s7 Irina-Camelia Begu ROU 6-1, 6-1 Wed Klara driving a backhand     Klara said: "It was very windy today and I expected a much tougher match, but I'm of course happy to win. I did well given the conditions." WTA story *n63 Vera Dushevina RUS d n55 Alexandra Dulgheru ROU 6-3, 6-1 Thu *n82 Galina Voskoboeva KAZ d n57 Iveta Benesova CZE 6-4, 6-4 Thu     Galina said: "The games were very close today. Not everything was perfect, but I fought very well. I played well at the important moments."

Seoul, QFs, Fri noon WTA story loser's prize: $5,340 US; points: 70 n36 s6 Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez ESP d n21 s3 Julia Goerges GER 7-6(6), 6-1 Julia and Maria Jose driving backhand and forehand *n35 s5 Polona Hercog SLO d n22 s4 wc Dominika Cibulkova SVK 6-3, 6-1 Polona's forehand drive     Polona said: "[Dominika is] one of the best movers in women's tennis. It wasn't easy to finish the points. I tried to hit with more topspin so it bounced higher on her and mix in some dropshots. I tried to use all of my shots today." n44 Klara Zakopalova CZE d n94 Vania King USA 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 Vania driving a forehand, and Klara about to swat one n82 Galina Voskoboeva KAZ d n63 Vera Dushevina RUS 6-2, 6-3 Galina (on right) with her coach, Alina Jidkova, at the Seoul players party     Galina said: "I'm friends with Vera and we play doubles together, but we had to forget about it when we went on the court. Vera had a 4-1 record against me but the last match we played was pretty close, we went to three sets. I just focused on each ball and didn't think about it...     "My forehand is definitely my best shot. It's a good shot naturally and I'm also working on it very hard. I can say it's my weapon."

Seoul, SFs, Sat noon loser's prize: $10,200 US; points: 130 n36 s6 Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez ESP d n44 Klara Zakopalova CZE 6-3, 6-2 Klara and Maria Jose driving forehand and backhand *n82 Galina Voskoboeva KAZ d n35 s5 Polona Hercog SLO 6-1, 6-4 Galina and Polona driving forehand and backhand, and Galina after match point

Seoul, Final, Sun noon loser's prize: $19,000 US; points: 200 winner's prize: $37,000 US; points: 280 n36 s6 Maria Jose Martinez Sanchez ESP d n82 Galina Voskoboeva KAZ 7-6(0), 7-6(2) Galina and Maria Jose driving backhands

Seoul, Doubles Final, Sun loser's prize: $5,750 US winner's prize: $11,000 US cdr57 s1 Natalie Grandin & Vladimira Uhlirova d cdr75 s2 Vera Dushevina & Galina Voskoboeva 7-6(5), 6-4 Seoul, Qual Finals, Mon Sep 19 10am losers' prizes: q1 $265 1pt; q2 $460 6pts; q3 $860 10pts; qualifier 16 points *n218 Yaroslava Shvedova KAZ d n186 Rika Fujiwara JPN 6-0, 6-0 n188 Yurika Sema JPN d n202 Marta Domachowska POL 3-6, 6-2, 7-6(4) n208 Kristyna Pliskova CZE d n380 Emma Laine FIN 7-5, 7-6(3) *n377 Nicole Rottmann AUT d n311 Ryoko Fuda JPN 6-3, 6-2 Seoul, Withdrawals n31 Anabel Medina Garrigues ESP n66 Greta Arn HUN n67 Lourdes Dominguez Lino ESP n68 Jelena Dokic AUS

Guangzhou International Women's Open,  Guangzhou, China   tourney time:        = GMT +8 hours        = US EDT +12 hours        = US PDT +15 hours China News Weather Forecast | Weather Maps | Weather Radar Guangzhou: The main draw for Guangzhou 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   Fangcun Tennis Sports Center, Guangzhou, China Latitude: 23.073474 Longitude: 113.210024 goto link for World Wind     Back when Beijing was called Peking (and even earlier, Peiping), Guangzhou was known as Canton. It is about 182 kilometers from Hong Kong. At last count about 10.15 million people live there (and rising). "Tennis Courts of Fangcun Tennis Sports Center was built in 2001, covering an area of 53000 square meters. It has total 17 tennis courts including one center court with a capacity of more than 3,500 seats..." 2011: On Sunday, Sept 18 in Guangzhou, Shuai Zhang, 2010 tourney champ Jarmila Gajdosova, and top seed Maria Kirilenko did the player rep thing at the main draw ceremony... row 2: Darned good looking healthy young ladies at the Guangzhou player's party on Tuesday evening included Jie Zheng, Shuai Zhang, Jarmila Gajdosova, Maria Kirilenko, Aravane Rezai, Yung-Jan Chan, and Yung-Jan's sister and doubles partner, Hao-Ching Chan...

Guangzhou, 1st Rd, Mon-Tue 1pm Tue WTA story loser's prize: $1,725 US; points: 1 n28 s1 Maria Kirilenko RUS d n157 Alona Bondarenko UKR 6-4, 6-2 Tue Maria following a forehand     Maria said: "I'm happy to get through the first round. It was really tough today. A lot of long rallies. I had to fight for every point. For the first match I played really well, but I feel I can improve a lot for the next one." n30 s2 Jarmila Gajdosova AUS d n205 Xinyun Han CHN 6-2, 6-1 Tue Jarmila about to connect with a forehand     2010 Guangzhou champ Jarmila said: "I will take it one match at a time. I started pretty well today. I have hopefully four more to go and if I defend my title, I'll be really happy." *n140 Yung-Jan Chan TPE d n52 s3 Ksenia Pervak RUS 4-1 retired—left shoulder injury Tue n54 s4 Petra Martic CRO d n156 Kai-Chen Chang TPE 6-4, 6-4 Mon *n148 Tetiana Luzhanska UKR d n56 s5 Bojana Jovanovski SRB 6-3, 4-6, 7-6(4) Tue *n83 Jie Zheng CHN d n58 s6 Alberta Brianti ITA 7-6(3), 6-4 Tue Jie serving, Alberta watching her return fly, and Jie following a backhand n69 s7 Chanelle Scheepers RSA d n76 Anastasija Sevastova LAT 7-5, 1-6, 6-3 Tue n72 s8 Magdalena Rybarikova SVK d n114 Jill Craybas USA 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 Tue n100 Aravane Rezai FRA d n102 Shuai Zhang CHN 6-2, 7-6(2) Tue n111 Iryna Bremond FRA d n136 Mariya Koryttseva UKR 6-1, 6-3 Tue *n450 q Yi-Jing Zhao CHN d n112 Misaki Doi JPN 6-4, 6-3 Tue n121 Urszula Radwanska POL d n124 Anastasia Rodionova AUS 7-6(5), 6-4 Mon n158 Noppawan Lertcheewakarn THA d n267 wc Saisai Zheng CHN 7-5, 6-0 Mon n162 Mandy Minella LUX d n730 q Yi-Fan Xu CHN 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-0 Tue n169 q Zarina Diyas KAZ d n323 wc Sheng-nan Sun CHN 6-1, 6-4 Tue *n213 q Su-Wei Hsieh TPE d n187 wc Jing-Jing Lu CHN 6-0, 6-2 Tue

Guangzhou, 2nd Rd, Wed 2:30pm loser's prize: $2,950 US; points: 30 n28 s1 Maria Kirilenko RUS d n111 Iryna Bremond FRA 6-3, 6-1 Maria ready to swat a forehand n30 s2 Jarmila Gajdosova AUS d n162 Mandy Minella LUX 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 n54 s4 Petra Martic CRO d n169 q Zarina Diyas KAZ 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 n69 s7 Chanelle Scheepers RSA d n213 q Su-Wei Hsieh TPE 3-6, 7-6(1), 6-1 n72 s8 Magdalena Rybarikova SVK d n100 Aravane Rezai FRA 6-4, 6-1 n83 Jie Zheng CHN d n158 Noppawan Lertcheewakarn THA 6-3, 7-5 Jie ready to swat a forehand n121 Urszula Radwanska POL d n140 Yung-Jan Chan TPE 2-6, 6-2, 6-2 n148 Tetiana Luzhanska UKR d n450 q Yi-Jing Zhao CHN 6-4, 2-6, 7-5

Guangzhou, QFs, Thu 2:30pm loser's prize: $5,340 US; points: 70 n28 s1 Maria Kirilenko RUS d n148 Tetiana Luzhanska UKR 6-1, 7-5 Maria moving netward *n72 s8 Magdalena Rybarikova SVK d n30 s2 Jarmila Gajdosova AUS 6-4, 6-3 *n83 Jie Zheng CHN d n54 s4 Petra Martic CRO 1-6, 6-4, 6-3 Jie serving n69 s7 Chanelle Scheepers RSA d n121 Urszula Radwanska POL 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-3

Guangzhou, SFs, Fri 2pm loser's prize: $10,200 US; points: 130 *n69 s7 Chanelle Scheepers RSA d n28 s1 Maria Kirilenko RUS 7-5, 5-7, 6-4 Chanelle and Maria following forehands     Maria led Chanelle 4-1 in the 3rd set. Chanelle said: "At 4-1, I just tried to make every point as hard as possible for [Maria]. I was just trying to keep her out there as long as possible and if she wanted the match, she was going to have to win it. I just kept on fighting and she started missing some balls, and all of a sudden it was 5-4, then I served it out for 6-4." WTA story n72 s8 Magdalena Rybarikova SVK d n83 Jie Zheng CHN 7-5, 6-3 Magdalena and Jie about to swat backhand and forehand

Guangzhou, Final, Sat 10am loser's prize: $19,000 US; points: 200 winner's prize: $37,000 US; points: 280 n69 s7 Chanelle Scheepers RSA d n72 s8 Magdalena Rybarikova SVK 6-2, 6-2 Magda and Chani about to swat forehands

Guangzhou, Doubles Final, Sat loser's prize: $5,750 US winner's prize: $11,000 US Su-Wei Hsieh & Saisai Zheng d Chin-Wei Chan & Xinyun Han 6-2, 6-1 Su-Wei & Chin-Wei Guangzhou, Qual Finals, Mon Sep 19 11am losers' prizes: q1 $265 1pt; q2 $460 6pts; q3 $860 10pts; qualifier 16 points *n450 Yi-Jing Zhao CHN d n166 Madalina Gojnea ROU 6-2, 6-3 n169 Zarina Diyas KAZ d n329 Nicha Lertpitaksinchai THA 7-5, 6-1 *n213 Su-Wei Hsieh TPE d n184 Ling Zhang HKG 7-6(0), 4-6, 6-1 *n730 Yi-Fan Xu CHN d n370 Chin-Wei Chan TPE 6-1, 6-2 Guangzhou, Withdrawals n18 Roberta Vinci ITA right knee injury n34 Angelique Kerber GER low back injury n64 Alla Kudryavtseva RUS left hamstring strain n81 Sania Mirza IND left knee injury n89 Sloane Stephens USA left wrist injury n96 Stephanie Dubois CAN right foot injury n109 Stephanie Foretz-Gacon FRA knee injury n115 Olga Govortsova BLR right elbow injury

See also: QuickShop: Sporting Goods - Martina Hingis - Anna Kournikova

Current WTA Results & Tennis News (tennis home page) - 2011 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.