Smashnova Perfect 12-0 in Finals with Budapest Title

Smashnova, seeded No.8 at the $145,000 Budapest Grand Prix, the last clay court event of the season, was in fine form against the No.5-seeded Dominguez Lino, capitalizing on her backboard-like ground game and several successful forays into the net, winning the first three games of the match and eventually closing out the Spaniard decisively in two sets.

"I'm really happy to be here and win again," said Smashnova, who captured her most recent title at this very event a year ago. "It was tough -- not as easy as the score suggests. I was patient during the match and fighting for each point. I'm really glad to get through this whole week."

And patient she was, grinding out wins over five clay court naturals, the most difficult of which was her 61 36 63 first round victory over former Top 15 player Eleni Daniilidou. From then on, Smashnova wasn't pushed beyond four games in a set, downing Laura Pous Tio, 60 62, in the second round; top seed Catalina Castano, 62 62, in the quarters; unseeded Martina Muller, 64 63, in the semis; and then Dominguez Lino. The run at times provided deja vu for the Belarus-born Israeli, who turned 30 two weeks ago; last year, she beat Dominguez Lino in the first round and Castano in the final, by near-identical scorelines.

Smashnova has now taken home at least one Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles title in each of the last five seasons. Her dozen trophies include Tashkent in 1999, Knokke-Heist in 2000, Auckland, Canberra, Vienna and Shanghai in 2002, Sopot and Helsinki in 2003, Vienna in 2004 and Modena and Budapest last year. The biggest triumphs came with her Vienna and Sopot wins (they are Tier III events).

But she has also done well on much bigger stages; she has twice reached Tier I semifinals, at Berlin in 2002 and Moscow in 2003, has played the second week of Grand Slams twice (both at Roland Garros), and has been ranked as high as No.15, having made one season-ending Championships appearance, in 2002.

Dominguez Lino falls to 1-2 in Tour singles finals. Her first final came last year at Bogota, falling to Flavia Pennetta; earlier this year, she won a rematch of that final in the very same event, defeating the Italian for her first Tour title.

Another perfect record kept growing in the doubles, as the No.3-seeded team of Janette Husarova and Michaella Krajicek won its second event in as many tries with a 46 64 64 championship victory over unseeded Czech pairing Lucie Hradecka and Renata Voracova. Husarova and Krajicek won their first event together at Palermo last week, and now win again, giving the Slovak her 21st Tour doubles title and the Dutch teen her second.

This was the sixth staging of the Budapest Grand Prix. Smashnova is the first player to win twice at this event. Other former champions are Magdalena Maleeva (2001), Muller (2002), Magui Serna (2003) and Jelena Jankovic (2004).
-- WTA