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Bartoli v Poutchkova in Quebec City Final
Posted on November 5, 2006
QUEBEC CITY, Canada -- It's only fitting that two players who have had breakthrough fall seasons will fight for a title in the last week of the regular season. Marion Bartoli and Olga Poutchkova both emerged winners against game challengers Saturday, setting up an intriguing championship clash at the $175,000 Bell Challenge.
Poutchkova was the first to grab a spot in the final, defeating No.4 seed Severine Bremond, 26 60 75. Bremond came out on fire, punishing forehands and mixing things up nicely off the backhand wing, throwing off a seemingly erratic Poutchkova. That outcome was reversed in the second as the No.8-seeded Russian regrouped, and began taking control of the rallies more; both players were on their game in the decider, but it was Poutchkova who prevailed to reach her second career final.
"I'm really happy with the way I handled it in the end," said the Russian teenager. "The first set was like a warm-up for me; it's the third time this tournament I've lost the first set and won the next two. It was pretty tight at the end. You have to learn how to win those important points to become a higher-level player; I have a lot of room to grow but I'm definitely becoming much better and more steady."
The Bell Challenge final won't be Poutchkova's first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour final. Among her impressive post-US Open finishes is a runner-up finish at another Tier III, the Sunfeast Open in Kolkata, India, where she fell in straight sets to Martina Hingis. She says she has learnt some lessons from that match for Sunday.
"When I was younger, I took a picture with her in Miami when they were playing the NASDAQ; I didn't expect I'd play a final with her six years later," said the 19-year-old, who lives in Washington DC. "She remembered me. It was funny. And I learned from playing her. I was nervous in the first set because it was my first final; in the second I felt better. I began taking the chances she was giving me."
Poutchkova will have to beat another higher-ranked Frenchwoman Sunday if she wants to win her first title. Marion Bartoli, seeded No.2 this week and already a winner this season at Auckland and Tokyo [Japan Open], fought back from a one-set deficit and a right forearm injury that nearly forced her retirement in the second set, to dispatch inspired American qualifier Lilia Osterloh, 36 63 61.
"This match was very, very hard," Bartoli said. "I had to be mentally strong, because I was injured and down a set. I didn't know if I'd be able to complete the match or not. Finally, I started thinking that it was still possible to win, and I did it, so I was happy."
"I just ran out of gas," Osterloh said. "It was my seventh match in eight days but I gave it everything I had. After the first set I had nothing left; I still fought until the end, though. I felt maybe if I was a little fresher, I could have closed it out in straight sets, but she's a great player and she was fighting as well."
Osterloh was playing her third career semifinal, but first since January 2002; and with her run, she'll re-enter the Top 100 for the first time since the 2005 French Open fortnight. In the end it wasn't a bad week for the 28-year-old Ohio native.
"It was a great week, I'm really happy. I'm amazed I'm still going. I'm staying healthy, and I'm appreciating the game more now that I'm a little older than I was 10 years ago! I love tennis, it's given me so much, and when I finish I would love to give back. But for now, I just want to continue to improve."
Fast-rising Poutchkova runs into Bartoli, again...
Poutchkova should hope that Sunday's final will be a third time lucky scenario; in the two months since she began her meteoric ranking rise, which has seen her surge from outside the Top 100 to her current ranking of No.49, she has on two occasions been dismissed by Bartoli, in the first round of the US Open (64 60), and in the quarterfinals of Bali (62 64). Those account for two of the blemishes on her impressive 15-5 record since stepping onto the big stage in New York.
"I played against Bartoli twice... and I lost twice," Poutchkova commented. "We'll see what happens tomorrow. I'm just excited getting to the finals. Ill try to just play my own game tomorrow."
Bartoli has also had a solid fall run, going 19-6 since hitting the hardcourts of the US Open, highlighted by the aforementioned title run at the Tier III event in Tokyo [Japan Open], as well as another Tier III final at Bali, where she finished runner-up. The young Frenchwoman will try to win her third title of the season.
"It will be really interesting," she said. "Maybe Olga will be a bit more nervous than me because I've played more finals. But hopefully my arm will be okay. If I'm good physically, I'll be able to try my best to win this title."
-- WTA
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