Maria Sharapova reached the finals of the Bausch & Lomb Championships for the first time, after her semifinal opponent Lindsay Davenport withdrew because of illness. In the final world No.5 and top seed Sharapova will meet one of my favorite rising stars, Slovakia’s Domika Cibulkova, ranked 34th. Read more »
It was not an easy victory for top-seeded Maria Sharapova, but the Russian overcame Ukrainian Alona Bondarenko to advance to the semifinals of the Bausch & Lomb Championships.
Sharapova recovered from squandering three set points in the first set tiebreak to beat the 10th seed 6-7 (9-11) 6-3 6-2. "Considering a couple of those set points I had, it should have been over in two sets," said the world No.5. Read more »
Third seed Daniela Hantuchova was upset by Croatian qualifier Karolina Sprem in the second round of the Bausch & Lomb Championships. Final score: 6-3 1-6 6-3.
Sprem is currently ranked 296th in the world, but she was once a top-20 player. Sprem injured her wrist at the Italian Open in May and returned to the tour only two weeks ago, when she fell in qualifying at the Sony Ericsson Open. This week Sprem won two qualifying matches, beat Japanese veteran Ai Sugiyama in her main draw opener, then stunned world No.10 Hantuchova for the third top-10 win of her career, and first since 2004. Read more »
World No.14 Tatiana Golovin won’t be able to defend her title at Amelia Island, and will need to miss the Family Circle Cup in Charleston too. The reason is that earlier this month she had her left hip operated in order to remove a cyst.
Golovin has also skipped both the Pacific Life Open and the ongoing Sony Ericsson Open because of the surgery. (via Golovin’s Fan Page, photo via Getty Images)
France's Tatiana Golovin defeated top seed and defending champion Nadia Petrova of Russia 6-2, 6-1 at Amelia Island, Florida. This is Tatiana's first time to win this clay-court tournament; it's also her first WTA Tour title. Last three times, she was the runner-up.
The 19-year-old winner said that this was probably the happiest day of her life in her tennis career. Golovin, ranked No. 20 in the world also said: "The experience of beating Venus (Williams) and Ana (Ivanovic) this week, especially Ivanovic since I had never beaten her in the past, it gives you confidence. Today I knew that I could beat Petrova. I knew I had the weapons to do so."
Winning this match, Golovin took her head-to-head record against Petrova to 5-1.
Read about current tennis events and matches, interesting stories about female tennis players, watch players' interviews and amusing tennis videos. Read more »
