On Friday at Yale University, in the semifinals of the New Haven Open, the champion less than two weeks ago at Montreal, 22 year old 2nd seeded #6 (career high: #2) Petra Kvitova from Fulnek, Czech Republic, won again, defeating the 2008 champion at Estoril, Barcelona, and Seoul, 25 year old 7th seeded #14 (career high: #14) Maria Kirilenko from Moscow, Russia, 7-6(9), 7-5 (Petra is shown holding the glassware after the match).     Petra's prize is $107,000; Maria's prize is $57,000.     Petra said: "In the tie-break I just played point by point. I wasn't thinking about the score. In the end it was pretty close and I'm really glad I won it.     "After that, I was down physically, without energy. It seemed like I was walking, not running. I made a lot of mistakes and went 5-2 down. But then I tried not to think about my shots or tactics and started putting the ball into the court more.     "Then it was 7-5. I was surprised."     Maria said: "I was surprised I lost the tie-break. The last five or six tie-breaks I've won. I haven't lost one the last four or five months. But it was really close, and I already served for the set and just didn't make the right decisions, and it's okay.     "I was 5-2 up in the second set and again [Petra] came back. Even though I lost I still feel positive. I played really well this week. I played a good match today. Unfortunately, I was unlucky in the final today." WTA story     Petra and Maria are now tied at 3-3 in career matches. Their previous meeting was three weeks ago on a chlorophyll court in the quarterfinals of the London Olympic Games, when Maria defeated Petra 7-6(3) 6-3.

    2011 Wimbledon, WTA Championships, Madrid, Brisbane & Paris Indoor champ Petra, who clinched this year's US Open Series title (and bonus money) with her quarterfinal win on Thursday, is now 9-2 in WTA singles finals. Petra has a 41-12 singles match record this year.

    Roberta said: "I think we played a really good final. I was up a set and 3-0 and had a lot of chances to keep going, but [Jelena] came back to 3-all. She's such a good player—she was No.1 in the world a few years ago—so at the beginning of the match I was a little bit nervous. But I just tried to stay relaxed and keep going for my shots, and, although we were both very tired, I made it." WTA story

    Maria is now 5-6 in WTA singles finals; she has not won a title since 2008, but she also reached the Pattaya City final earlier this year. Maria's singles match record this season is 29-18.

    On Friday at Dallas, in the final of the Texas Tennis Open, last year's champ at 's-Hertogenbosch, Barcelona & Budapest, 29 year old 3rd seeded #26 (career high: #18) Roberta Vinci from Taranto, Italy, defeated the 2010 champion at Indian Wells (and 2008 US Open finalist), 27 year old 2nd seeded (top seed due to a withdrawal) #18 (and former #1) Jelena Jankovic, from Belgrade, Serbia, 7-5, 6-3 (Roberta is shown with the glassware after the match). Roberta's prize is $37,000; Jelena's prize is $19,100.

    Jelena said: "The most important moment was at 5-4 in the first set, I was serving for the set and had 30-15. If that ball went my way it would have been 40-15 and two set points on my serve. After I lost that, it seemed like everything went downhill. I started making a lot of errors and playing wrong, tactically.
    "After I was down 3-0 in the second set I changed some things a bit and got back in the match, but from there [Roberta] played really unbelievable tennis.
    "Overall I'm happy with my week though. I came here to play some good matches; unfortunately I didn't win, but I played some very good tennis."

    Jelena still leads Roberta 3-1 in career matches. Their previous meeting was in 2009 on a Deco-Turf hardcourt in the 1st round of the US Open, when Jelena defeated Roberta 6-2, 6-3.

    Roberta is now 7-1 in WTA singles finals. She won at Barcelona, 's-Hertogenbosch, and Budapest last year, but was the first final she has reached this season. Roberta has a 34-22 singles match record in 2012.

    Jelena is now 12-16 in WTA singles finals. She also reached the Birmingham final this year, but has not won a title since 2010 at Indian Wells. Jelena has a 26-24 singles match record this year.

    No news photos of the WTA tourney emerged from faraway Dallas all week, including the final, apparently they have no news media there, or perhaps all the pro sports photojournalists were out snapping pics of the all-important high school football.

Find tennis shoes made by: adidas -- Nike -- Fila -- Reebok
Find tennis racquets made by: Yonex -- Wilson -- Head -- Prince -- Babolat
Find tennis balls made by: Wilson -- Dunlop -- Penn -- Tretorn -- Slazenger



This page's URL is: http://tennis.quickfound.net/wta_results_2012/new_haven_dallas_results_2012.html