Russian teenager Kuznetsova wins Wismilak 2002

Pariama Hutasoit, Contributor, Nusa Dua, Bali

Unseeded Russian teenager Svetlana Kuznetsova defeated Spanish veteran Conchita Martinez 3-6, 7-6, 7-5 in the final of the Wismilak 2002 Tennis Tournament here on Sunday.

Kuznetsova walked away with US$35,000, while Martinez received $19,000 for her second-place finish.

The final was a tight affair, with Kuznetsova having to overcome her frequent unforced errors.

Martinez took the first set rather easily, with Kuznetsova, 17, unable to match Martinez's persistence and accurate shots. The Spaniard won the first set 6-3.

In the second set, Kuznetsova changed her strategy and came out more aggressively. She continued to attack from the baseline, although Martinez responded with a series of extraordinary passing shots.

Martinez led the second set 5-4, but the young Russian leveled the score before taking the set 7-6. The third and deciding set was another tense battle, with the Russian winning the set and the match 7-5.

Kuznetsova reached the finals by defeating another Spanish veteran, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario, 7-5, 6-4 in the semifinals. Martinez handily defeated American Sarah Taylor 6-0, 6-3 to book her spot in the final.

With her victory in the Wismilak tournament, Kuznetsova can expect her ranking to shoot up.

In 2001, young Indonesian Angelique "Angie" Widjaja won the tournament.

"For two consecutive years, the Wismilak tournament has seen young champions. Angie won the tournament when she was still 16 years old, while Kuznetsova is 17 years old," tennis observer Benny Mailili pointed out.

Born in Leningrad in June 1985, Kuznetsova moved to Barcelona and enrolled at a tennis academy run by Emilio Sanchez, the brother of Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario. Over the past two years, Kuznetsova has served notice to the tennis world that she is an up and coming talent.

Kuznetsova entered the tournament in Bali ranked 259. But with her victory, that ranking will jump up into the 50s.

Martinez said after the match that she had played with all her energy and concentration, but it just wasn't enough.

"I almost won," said Martinez, ranked 55th in the world.

Kuznetsova admitted she had to battle some nerves out on the court, especially in the first set.

"It is not a matter of a tennis game. It is more like a mental competition," she said.

She then dedicated her victory to Sanchez-Vicario. "She provided me the opportunity to enter the final."

"I am very happy to win this tournament. Sanchez has supported me and pushed me to do my best," she said.

Meanwhile, Agence France-Presse reported from Hong Kong that Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero overcame compatriot Carlos Moya on Sunday with a relentless display of power tennis to win the $400,000 Hong Kong Open.

The Spaniards, who had vowed before the match to put their off-court friendship to one side for the showdown, unloaded a barrage of ferocious groundstroke winners during a two-hour, four-minute battle in front of 2,000 fans at Victoria Park.

However, Ferrero's unfaltering self-belief and a few moments of timely good fortune were all that separated the evenly matched duo, and a searing ace down the middle finally gave him a deserved 6-3, 1-6, 7-6 (7/4) win and the $51,000-dollar winner's check.

In Palermo, Italy, Chilean Fernando Gonzalez will face 19-year-old Argentine Jose Acususo in the final of the Sicily International ATP tournament here later on Sunday, Reuters reported.

Gonzalez cruised into the final with a thumping 6-1, 6-2 win over Czech challenger Bohdan Ulihrach on Saturday, but Acususo ended hopes of an all-Chilean final by defeating top seed Marcelo Rios 6-4, 6-4 in the other semifinals.