Tulyaganova Tries to Blot Sun in WTA Tashkent Final
Posted on October 8, 2006
TASHKENT, Uzbekistan -- Contesting her second Sony Ericsson WTA Tour event of the year, and as a wild card no less, Iroda Tulyaganova is just one match away from grabbing her first singles title in five years. The Uzbek star and China's Sun Tiantian notched straight set semifinal victories Saturday afternoon and will battle for the $145,000 Tashkent Open title Sunday.
Sun was the first to win her semifinal, overcoming a large first set deficit to defeat Belarussian teenager Victoria Azarenka, 75 64. Azarenka came out like a house on fire, storming to a 4-1 lead, playing as though she had never left the court after stunning top-seeded Maria Elena Camerin with the loss of only one game in the quarterfinals.
But the more experienced Sun used the court craft that has brought her a flurry of doubles titles, as well as a pair of singles wins over Top 10 players, clawing out the first set and staying a step ahead of her increasingly erratic opponent in the second, eventually winning through to her first singles final on the Tour.
"The key was confidence," said Sun, who turns 25 next week. "I was confident even when I was down in the first set. She hits so hard, so I decided to stay in there and make her make mistakes."
"I was not nervous, but I didn't do anything right," Azarenka said dejectedly. "She played very well, mixing her game up, and I just couldn't find my rhythm."
In a much quicker second semifinal, Tulyaganova had her way with the lone seed left in the draw, No.6 seed Olga Poutchkova, beating the Russian teenager, 64 60. Tulyaganova, whose run at Kolkata two weeks ago was stopped by Poutchkova in the semis, broke in the final game of the first set and rolled over her younger opponent in the second set to reach her seventh career Tour singles final.
"She believes that she can do anything," said Tulyaganova. "But I wanted to show her that I have self-belief too -- twice that self-belief."
"I was angry with myself, and lost control," said Poutchkova, who was playing for the fourth week in a row, having reached the Bali quarters, the Kolkata final and the Guangzhou quarters in the last three weeks. "I've had a long tour; I'm tired."
Tulyaganova is playing on the Tour for just the second time this year, having made the aforementioned semifinal run at Kolkata a few weeks back. A former Top 20 player, she spent a few years stopping and starting on the Tour after battling an elbow injury, as well as going through other struggles. She won her first of three singles title here six years ago, and now has a chance at capturing her fourth at the very same event.
But she won't take final debutante Sun lightly.
"If she has reached the final, she must be playing well. For sure it will not be an easy match."
The two players will be facing each other for the first time.
-- WTA
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