Medina Garrigues Wins 4th Straight Palermo Title
Posted on July 24, 2006
PALERMO, Italy -- The challengers were humbled once again at the $145,000 Internazionali Femminili di Palermo as Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues maintained her stranglehold on the Tier IV singles title.
Medina, who turns 24 on July 31, gave herself an early birthday present by beating local wildcard Tathiana Garbin, 64 64 in Sunday's final for her fourth Palermo title and sixth career Tour singles crown.
No.2-seeded Medina Garrigues won her third successive Palermo title (her very first Tour title was won here in 2001) with relative ease, dropping just one set in five matches, that being against Anastasiya Yakimova in the second round. Her other victims en route to the title were compatriot Laura Pous Tio in the first round, Italian qualifier Karin Knapp in the quarterfinals and No.4-seeded Czech Lucie Safarova in the semis.
Garbin, who was aiming to become the first wildcard in 2006 to win a Tour singles title, had a largely untroubled run to the championship match. The 29-year-old Italian did not drop a set en route to the final, defeating countrywoman Alice Canepa in the first round, No.5 seed Anna Smashnova in the second round, German Julia Schruff (who ousted top seed Flavia Pennetta in the first round) in the quarterfinals and another Italian, Robert Vinci, in the semis.
However, Garbin was unable to prevent Medina Garrigues from collecting her second title of 2006 (also Canberra in January), falling to 1-4 lifetime against the Spaniard.
Pennetta's shock opening round loss could well be attributed to her draining Fed Cup weekend on the eve of the event. The Top 20 star helped Italy to its first-ever final of the prestigious team competition, in which it will play Belgium in September.
Another early casualty was No.3 seed Michaella Krajicek, who was upset in the second round by French qualifier Aravane Rezai.
Nonetheless, Krajicek rebounded to take the doubles title; that final -- played on Saturday -- saw the unseeded and previously untried duo of Janette Husarova and Krajicek overwhelm Italian qualifiers Canepa and Giulia Gabba, 60 60.
Playing together for the first time, the Slovakian/Dutch team did not drop a set all week, helping secure Husarova's 20th career Tour doubles title and Krajicek's first.
For taking the singles title, Medina collected $22,900, while runner-up Garbin pocketed $12,345. Doubles champions Husarova and Krajicek shared $6,750.
-- WTA
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