Kuznetsova claims Wismilak title
Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post/Nusa Dua, Bali
Second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova claimed the singles title at the US$225,000 Wismilak International Tennis tournament after overpowering unseeded Marlene Weingartner of Germany 6-1, 6-4 in the final, while the top seeded pair, Anastasia Myskina/Ai Sugiyama won the doubles on Sunday.
Kuznetsova, fresh from her victory at the US Open a week ago, won the 2002 title but skipped last year's event, leaving the crown to another Russian, Elena Dementieva.
"It was tough to go all the way through after coming from the US Open. I was just doing my best and didn't want to lose," she told a post-match press conference. "I knew I could win this after I won the US Open."
World's number six Kuznetsova showed her superiority over world number 67 Weingartner by hammering her with her fierce backhand and put her under pressure as the 24-year-old German struggled to return difficult shots.
"Today, the key was just to stay in the match. I definitely didn't play my best. I played well in the first set, but Marlene couldn't find anything to play against me," she said.
"In the second set, she played better. She ran much more but I was still making her run to see if she could handle it," she added.
Weingartner said she was disappointed with the result because it was her first career WTA final.
"Of course, I'm disappointed since I thought I had my chance to win the second set, but I should take the positive things out of it, like having a new experience with the situation and the crowd, so next time when I get into another final I will know what to do," she said.
"Kuznetsova always plays consistently and she's very powerful. She hit hard shots throughout the match and she put a lot of pressure on me. You have to be really fast to counterattack her shots and my legs were tired, so I could not return all her shots during the game.
"I need some time to get into the game like the previous matches, that's why I didn't do well in the first set," she added.
Since the quarterfinals, Weingartner always needed three sets to win a match. She won 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 over Choo Yoon-jeong of South Korea in the quarterfinals and won 2-6, 6-3, 6-3 over Maria Elena Camerin of Italy in the semifinals.
In the doubles, top seeds Myskina of Russia and Sugiyama of Japan, both had exited the singles matches in the early rounds, but went ahead to win the doubles title after defeating unseeded Kuznetsova and Spanish old hand Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, 6-3, 7- 5.
Myskina and Sugiyama played better during the game since they both had a proper two-day rest before the final match. They did not play in the semifinal match since their opponents Gisela Dulko of Argentina and Venezuelan Milagros Sequera forfeited due to Sequera's injury.
Talking about the match, Myskina said that it had been a fun final for her and Sugiyama. She admitted that Kuznetsova and Sanchez-Vicario had been playing really well during the game.
"I feel great in winning the doubles, at least I won a title here, especially since this is my first time playing with Sugiyama," Myskina said.
"Maybe, we're going to play again together in the coming tournaments, since we were playing so good together and this is our first title."