Zvonareva Beats Jackson in All-Unseeded Birmingham FinalPosted on June 19, 2006 Russian Vera Zvonareva took a step toward reclaiming her former top-player status Sunday at the WTA grasscourt stop in Birminghman, with the 21-year-stopping giant-killing American Jamea Jackson 7-6(12), 7-6(5) in the final to win her first title of the year.
"She came back very strong and started going for her shots in the second set," said Zvonareva who led 4-0 in the second. "It was really tough, but I took my chances. I really enjoyed today. It means so much to win here as we had such a great fight out there." The Russian raised her mark to 4-4 in finals, also finishing runner-up earlier this January in Auckland. Jackson beat three seeds en route to the final, including former Wimbledon champ Maria Sharapova. "My last match with Maria definitely took a lot out of me today," Jackson said. "In the first set tiebreak I tightened up and I wasn't as aggressive as I should have been. I really fought out there for every point though and was able to get more aggressive and that helped me come back in the second set." Jelena Jankovic and Li Na won the doubles title, defeating Liezel Huber and Jill Craybas 6-2, 6-4 for their first title of the year as a team. |
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