Quick Links
|
| Recent News...
|
|
 |
| See Also...
|
|
| |
|
|
| Rankings |
|
|
 |
|
|
Bartoli Bakes Double Bagel for Quebec City Title
Posted on November 6, 2006
QUEBEC CITY, Canada -- She very nearly stopped playing her semifinal match with an injured forearm, but still managed to fight her way into the Bell Challenge final; and when she got there, she unleashed the most devastating championship performance on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour in over 13 years. Marion Bartoli was in control from start to finish Sunday in Quebec, shutting Olga Poutchkova out, 60 60, for the third title of her career breakthrough season.
Bartoli, seeded No.2 at the Tier III event, needed only 41 minutes to complete the first double-bagel singles final since Auckland in early 1993; it was also the sixth such win of her career, although only one of those had come in a Tour main draw. After calling for a medical timeout during her semifinal against Lilia Osterloh with a right forearm injury, a conclusion like this one, against an in-form opponent like Poutchkova, came totally unexpected.
"I didn't have expectations coming into this match, so maybe that helped," Bartoli said. "Also, maybe she was tired from yesterday. She's a little younger and less experienced, too. Whenever she'd start taking control of the points I'd hit it just as hard back, and I think that discouraged her a little bit."
"She played very strong, came up with good angles, and just didn't give me any chances," said Poutchkova, who fell to 0-3 lifetime against the Frenchwoman. "I think it was also tough mentally; I'd played her twice already and lost. She's the toughest player for me. She's two-handed and it's hard to figure out where she'll hit. I'm surprised she hasn't won a Grand Slam yet. Maybe we'll meet up in a Grand Slam final someday -- but I hope not to lose 60 60 again."
Bartoli closes her breakthrough year on an amazing high. The Bell Challenge is her third Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles title, adding to her previous wins at Auckland in the first week of the year and Tokyo [Japan Open] just last month. She is also one of the newest additions to the world's Top 20, cracking that class last month as well. She'll return to her career-high of No.18 on Monday.
"I like playing finals; the only one I've lost was Bali against Svetlana Kuznetsova, who's No.4 in the world," said Bartoli, now 3-1 in finals. "It's been a magnificent season. At the beginning of the year I wasn't even thinking about winning a title, let alone three. It's incredible. There are players who haven't even won one yet.
"I'm looking forward to defending my titles next year; I'd also really like to reach the fourth round or quarterfinals of a Grand Slam -- that's a goal now."
Despite the lopsided loss, Poutchkova ends her breakthrough fall season with a second Tier III final appearance, and a 15-5 match record since the US Open. A non-Top 100 player in New York, she is projected to crack the Top 40 when the new rankings come out, and has little to defend until the same period next year.
"Maybe third time will be lucky," said the Russian, also a finalist at Kolkata, losing that match to Martina Hingis. "It happens sometimes where you reach the finals, you know it's your last match and it happens. But it was a wonderful week. I got great support from the Quebec fans. Today was just another day; you just have to forget about it and move on. There are a lot of tournaments out there."
Poutchkova joked with the press afterwards, suggesting a reason for her defeat other than her opponent's sharp play.
"I had dinner at the hotel restaurant last night and when I got back there was a present from the tournament, or the hotel -- I'm not sure. It was a chocolate tennis racquet, a lot of chocolate. I had fun with that. It probably slowed me down. I eat everything. My dad looked at me and was like, 'What's going on?'"
Granville, Gullickson complete doubles title run
After a pair of impressive runs on the ITF Women's Circuit in their fifth and sixth outings together, Americans Laura Granville and Carly Gullickson claimed their first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour doubles title together with a 63 64 win over fellow unseeded team Jill Craybas and Alina Jidkova Sunday afternoon. The champions had played two $50K minor league events in recent weeks, winning one and reaching the final of the other, and it seemed to propel them to this win.
"I played here two years ago and I won it, so it's always good to come back as it's one of my favorite tournaments of the season," Gullickson said afterwards. "Laura played really well today. It's always fun playing with her."
This was Granville's second Tour doubles title, having won Cincinnati in 2005 with another American, Abigail Spears. Gullickson was a champion in Quebec in 2004 with Argentina's Maria Emilia Salerni.
Craybas and Jidkova had taken out multiple 2006 titlists Vania King and Jelena Kostanic, the No.2 seeds here, in the semifinals.
-- WTA
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
