Fifth seed Anna Chakvetadze lost 7-6(7) 6-4 in the second round of the $2.5 million Qatar Total Open to China's world No.29 Na Li.
This is Chakvetadze's second consecutive early exit from a tournament since winning the Open Gaz the France earlier this month. Chakvetadze was upset in the second round of the last week’s Proximus Diamond Games in Antwerp when she lost to Sweden’s Sofia Arvidsson. Read more »
Second seed Anna Chakvetadze was stunned in the second round of the Proximus Diamond Games by Sweden’s Sofia Arvidsson, ranked 66th in the world. Final score was 6-3 7-5.
World No.6 Chakvetadze, who won the Open Gaz de France last week, suffered a surprise loss in the first match she played since (the Russian had a bye in the first round of the tournament in Antwerp).
Sofia Arvidsson will next play China’s Na Li, seeded-ninth. (photo via Getty Images)
Top seed Anna Chakvetadze defeated seventh-seeded Agnes Szavay 6-3 2-6 6-2 and became the Open Gaz de France champion for the first time in her career.
With this victory, the Russian extended her perfect career record in finals to 7-0.
At tomorrow's new ranking, Anna Chakvetadze will be one spot higher, at No.6, while Agnes Szavay will reach No.18 for the first time in her career (if she had won the tournament in Paris she would have become world No.17).
On her way to the title Chakvetadze defeated three home favorites Nathalie Dechy, Amelie Mauresmo and Marion Bartoli, and of course Hungarian Agnes Szavay in today’s final.
The titlist Chakvetadze collected $95,500, while Szavay earned $51,000. I hope the prize won’t bring back the thieves to Chakvetadze. (photo via Yahoo!)
Hungarian teenager Agnes Szavay and top seed Anna Chakvetadze of Russia will battle for the Open Gaz the France title in Sunday's final.
In today's semis seventh-seeded Szavay, who won her first two singles titles (Palermo and Beijing) and reached the US Open quarterfinals last year, defeated Elena Dementieva 6-3 1-6 7-5. Chakvetadze advanced to the title match with a 2-6 6-2 6-0 win over local favorite Marion Bartoli. Bartoli made a promising start but then collapsed against Chakvetadze, who made her breakthrough last year by winning four titles and reaching the US Open semifinals. Read more »
Top seed Russian Anna Chakvetadze beat home favorite and former world number one Amelie Mauresmo 3-6 6-3 6-3 to reach the Open Gaz de France semifinals where she will face another Frenchwoman, Wimbledon finalist Marion Bartoli.
The victory is Chakvetadze’s first in four meetings against Mauresmo. The two-time Grand Slam champion Mauresmo won the Parisian tournament in 2001 and 2006 and was the runner-up in 1999, 2003 and 2005. We’re still waiting for her to start making such good results again after a disappointing season 2007 which ruined her confidence.
After the tough and more than two hours long quarterfinal, world number seven Chakvetadze is tired and said it won't be easy to recover and enter the semifinal clash against third seed Bartoli really fresh. Chakvetadze and Bartoli have met only once so far, that was in Luxembourg last year, and Bartoli won in three sets.
In the other semifinal, Hungarian Agnes Szavay and Russian Elena Dementieva will face each other. (photo via Getty Images)
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