On Saturday in Uzbekistan, in the final of the Tashkent Open, 22 year old #96 (career high #38) Irina-Camelia Begu from Bucharest, Romania, won her first WTA singles title by defeating 16 year old qualifier #208 (career high: #183) Donna Vekic of Croatia, 6-4, 6-4 (Irina is shown about to hit balls to the crowd after match point).     Irina's prize is $37,000; Donna's prize is $19,000.     Irina-Camelia said: "My service is what got me through. Donna played very well and I was happy to break her in both sets. I was a little worried when she came back from 4-2 to level the score 4-4 in the second set, but I managed to break her back immediately to take a 5-4 lead, and then I served it out...     "It feels great to win a title. I'll take back sweet memories from the Tashkent Open. I'm glad I made the last minute decision to play here, and I will surely come back to defend my title next year." WTA story     Donna, who was playing in her first WTA main draw, is the youngest WTA finalist since then 15 year old Tamira Paszek won the Portoroz title in 2006.     Donna said: "I was ready for this final, but Irina played very well and deserved to win today. I had my chances in the second set when I broke her to get back to 4-4, but I hurried a little bit on my serve and she broke me right back.     "I'm happy I had a good week, but a little disappointed of not being able to win the title after coming close. But I will come back. And the event has brought me a lot of experience and will surely help me in the WTA events I play now."     Irina-Camelia and Donna had never before met on the field of combat.

    Irina-Camelia is now 1-2 in WTA singles finals; she reached the finals at Marbella and Budapest last year. Irina-Camelia's 2012 singles match record is 22-24.

    Donna was playing in her first WTA singles final. She has won 2 ITF singles titles, both this year, at Fergana and Bangalore. Donna has an impressive 36-9 singles match record this season, mostly in ITF play.

    On Sunday in Quebec City, in the final of the Challenge Bell, 26 year old #133 (career high: #59) Kirsten Flipkens from Mol, Belgium, won her first WTA singles title by defeating 27 year old 8th-seeded #69 (career high: #41) Lucie Hradecka from Prague, Czech Republic, 6-1, 7-5 (Kirsten is shown while defeating Samantha Stosur in the 1st round at Rosmalen (aka 's-Hertogenbosch) this year).

    Kirsten's prize is $37,000; Lucie's prize is $19,000.

    Kirsten said: "I played really well and really aggressively in the first set. I feel my only advantage in the second set was the break at 5-all. It was a really close match and I was down in a lot of the games I won. I have to give credit to Lucie; she came back strong in the second set...
    "I was out for eight weeks with blood clots... I got a lot of confidence out of that week in Rosmalen, beating Stosur and Vinci. I won two $25,000 tournaments in the summer, too... This is the best day of my life." WTA story

    Lucie and Kirsten had met twice before. In 2010, on an indoor hardcourt in the 1st round at Luxembourg, Kirsten defeated Lucie 6-2, 6-3. But the following year, on a Plexipave hardcourt in the 1st round at Indian Wells, Lucie defeated Kirsten 7-6(6), 6-2.

    Kirsten was playing in her first WTA singles final; she has won 2 ITF singles titles. Kirsten's 2012 singles match record is 50-14.

    Lucie is now 0-5 in WTA singles finals; she reached the finals at Barcelona last year, Strasbourg and Istanbul in 2009, and at Bad Gastein in 2008. Lucie's singles match record this season is 21-19.

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/quebec_city_tashkent_results_2012.html