Kuznetsova to meet Weingartner in Wismilak International final
Kuznetsova to meet Weingartner in Wismilak International final
Eva C. Komandjaja, The Jakarta Post/Nusa Dua, Bali
Svetlana Kuznetsova of Russia is in position to win her second
Wismilak International tennis tournament less than two weeks
after her U.S. Open triumph, when she takes on Marlene
Weingartner of Germany in the final of the US$225,000 tournament
here on Sunday.
Second seed Kuznetsova, who beat Conchita Martinez in the 2002
final, advanced to this year's final after defeating compatriot
Nadia Petrova 6-7 (2), 6-1, 6-2 in the semifinals on Saturday.
Weingartner stopped Italian Maria Elena Camerin's run with a
2-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory in the other semifinal match.
Weingartner lost to Kuznetsova in their only previous
encounter in Moscow last year, and the 24-year-old German said
she was looking forward to squaring the score.
However, she will be up against a player who is on a roll
after defeating compatriot Elena Dementieva to win the U.S. Open
trophy. Dementieva was the 2003 Wismilak champion but opted out
of this year's tournament.
On Saturday, Kuznetsova proved her mettle again against sixth
seed Petrova.
Petrova got off to a quick start in the first set, expertly
placing the ball in the corners and sending Kuznetsova scampering
around the court in an effort to find a return.
In the second set, Petrova was unable to maintain the same
quality of play she showed in the opening set.
She lost her focus and her energy seemed to drain away.
Petrova hit a string of unforced errors and Kuznetsova had little
trouble taking the final two sets to win the match.
Kuznetsova said she felt extremely tired during the match, but
tried to ignore her fatigue and focus on winning the match.
"I knew that Nadia was tired and I felt tired too, but I
wanted to win the game so I tried to play one ball at a time. I
was concentrating to get more points out of her," Kuznetsova said
during the postmatch press conference.
"She served very well during the first game but in the second
game she didn't do very well and made many mistakes," she said.
Kuznetsova said she was not at her best because she had had
little rest after winning U.S. Open last week.
"So far this is the longest winning streak of my career. In
the U.S. Open I won seven matches, and I have won three more
matches here. So I can say I have won 10 matches in a row," she
said.
Kuznetsova also has chance to make it a double victory in
Bali, after reaching the doubles final with partner Arantxa
Sanchez Vicario of Spain.
The duo defeated the Italian-Australian pairing of Tathiana
Garbin and Nicole Pratt 6-2, 6-3 on Saturday. They will face
Anastasia Myskina of Russia and Ai Sugiyama of Japan in the final
on Sunday.
Petrova said she was surprised that Kuznetsova was able to
play so well despite her hectic schedule since winning the U.S.
Open.
"I realize that I did not do well in the second and third
games, maybe because I did not have a proper lunch this afternoon
before playing. But (my defeat) was because Svetlana played very
well," Petrova said.
"She hit the ball from the baseline from any angle, so they
were really difficult shots to return," she said.
Later on Saturday, Camerin, who dumped world No. 2 and French
Open champion Anastasia Myskina en route to the semifinals,
finally ran out of gas against the lower ranked Weingartner.
Camerin is ranked 61st in the world while Weingartner is
ranked 67th.
"It's my first time to make it to the finals and I did it
very nicely. Physically, I felt fitter than her (Camerin) and I
also feel that I has been playing better during the last week,"
Weingartner said.