Chakvetadze Beats Injured Petrova For Moscow Title

Despite coming off her maiden title two weeks ago at the Tier III in Guangzhou, Chakvetadze came into the Kremlin Cup unseeded, and thus largely unheralded. But that did not get in the way of one of the fastest-rising stars around; she made a dream run to the final, beating Top 10 stars Dinara Safina and Elena Dementieva, as well as world No.12 Francesca Schiavone, en route to her first Tier I final.

In Petrova, she was facing a player who had been struggling mightily with injuries in the days leading up to the final, but coming off her fifth title of the season in Stuttgart and battling through to this week's final, the No.5 seed left it all on the court anyway. The two players served strongly and traded solid groundstrokes throughout the one-hour, 31-minute final, and aside from a slight comeback in the second set, where Petrova cut a 4-1 hole down to 4-3, Chakvetadze was in comfortable control throughout, finally improving to 3-0 against her compatriot.

The 19-year-old Muscovite was ecstatic after the straight set championship win, which represented her sixth career Top 10 victory; her fourth and fifth came earlier in the week with the aforementioned defeats of Safina and Dementieva.

"I'd come to watch the Kremlin Cup with my parents from the age of six, and I never thought I'd play in this tournament," Chakvetadze said afterwards. "To win the title here is just unbelievable -- a dream come true.

"Having won my first title recently I had an even better week here, beating three Top 10 players, so I'm definitely going to buy myself something as a reward for this victory. I'm also going to celebrate this victory with my family and friends."

Despite not coming away with the trophy, Petrova can walk away knowing she is back in form, consolidating last week's Stuttgart title with a scintillating run to the final this week, notching solid wins over Anna-Lena Groenefeld, Vera Zvonareva and Elena Likhovtseva, as well as a clutch semifinal win over Nicole Vaidisova.

She was winless against Chakvetadze coming in, suffering two losses during the summer hardcourt season, when she was undergoing a hip injury-induced slump.

"I think it would have been a different story today if I was fully fit," Petrova said. "My movement was limited and I couldn't serve at my maximum power. My serve is one of my weapons, so that was a shame. However, it's all about how well you play, and today Anna played better than me, so she deserved the victory. This is her biggest title, and I'm very happy for her."

Other Russians who lit up the home crowd during the week were Dementieva, who made a spirited run to the semis; Vera Zvonareva, who had her second best career win against Svetlana Kuznetsova; Elena Vesnina, who won a first round thriller with Li Na before pushing Amelie Mauresmo to a third set tie-break in the next round; and although she was forced to pull out of the event afterwards due to a foot injuty, Maria Sharapova played and won her first match of the week to lift home spirits further.

Vaidisova also had a solid run, notching a 16 75 76(3) victory over Mauresmo in the quarters, overcoming a 5-2 second set hole and three match points for her second win over the Frenchwoman this year, also her second win over a reigning world No.1.

In the doubles competition, No.3 seeds Kveta Peschke and Schiavone regrouped after losing the second set and cruised past unseeded Czech-Russian duo Iveta Benesova and Galina Voskoboeva, 64 67(4) 61. It is Peschke and Schiavone's third and biggest title as a team, having already won Tier II titles at Doha and Luxembourg earlier this season. It is also each player's individually-biggest Tour doubles title; Peschke's seventh and biggest, Schiavone's sixth and biggest.
-- WTA