Tatiana Golovin and Nadia Petrova in Porsche Tennis Grand Prix Final
Posted by Aaress Lawless on Oct 7, 2006 | Print
| 
Fourth seed Nadia Petrova and Tatiana Golovin will be playing in tomorrow’s Porsche Tennis Grand Prix final in Stuttgart, Germany. Petrova outlasted second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-2, 1-6, 6-4 in just under two hours, right after Golovin knocked out No. 5 Patty Schnyder 6-1, 5-7, 7-5.
Out of all the teenagers coming through the ranks on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, Tatiana Golovin is one of my favorites. Her cheerful demeanor, both on and off the court, coupled with her tenacity and drive makes her one of the most entertaining players to watch. She started the season off strong, but a freak accident at the NASDAQ-100 Open cost her several weeks on the injury list while she recovered from spraining tendons in her ankle. Although she is 0-2 in career finals, this is her best ever result at a Tier II tournament.
Nadia Petrova quickly won four tennis titles this spring, but it would be four long months before she would even win another match. It is difficult to classify someone with four titles in less than four months as going through a slump, but Nadia Petrova will not want to repeat this summer anytime soon. She lost in five straight opening round matches, before finally pulling herself together at the US Open. She reached the third round before losing to a nineteen year-old from France, Tatiana Golovin.
Petrova and Golovin have a history of difficult matches and tomorrow’s final will hopefully show both women producing their best tennis. Golovin leads 3-0 in their meetings, but each time they have played, Petrova has had a chance to win the match. Their last meeting at the US Open lasted almost three hours before it was finally won by Golovin 7-5, 6-7 (4), 6-3.
Even though Petrova may have a 0-3 record against Golovin, I am looking for her to change the momentum in tomorrow’s final. Petrova played well against Kuznetsova today, and for someone who has a long history of beating herself, she kept her head in the game even after winning just eleven points in the second set. If Petrova continues to keep her unforced errors down, her attitude positive, and serve well against Golovin, she will be headed straight for her fifth title of the 2006 season.
If you enjoyed this tennis article, please sign up for a free subscription!
Sapphisto | Oct 7, 2006 | Reply
Very well done to both of them! It should be a great match, and I only wish I could get to watch it.
I think I’ll be rooting for Tati, just cos she’s never won a title before(?) and she’s part of La Grande Equipe.
Now, I’m going to curl up in my corner and continue feeling rotten for Amelie. My poor baby.
Aaress | Oct 7, 2006 | Reply
Sapphisto - Hopefully you won’t be in the corner too long feeling bad for Amelie!
Momofan was telling me the other day that Amelie will be announcing her decision about playing Moscow on Monday. Also, she’s thinking about playing Linz, if she skips the Kremlin Cup.
http://www.onthebaseline.com/2006/10/05/injured-amelie-mauresmo-withdraws-from-porsche-tennis-grand-prix/#comments
Sapphisto | Oct 7, 2006 | Reply
LOL, thanks, Aaress.
Yeah, I saw the article. But I’m in complete agreement with Momofan - as much as I want my girl to win everything in sight, taking care of the shoulder is the most important thing. It’ll be really rough on her if she misses the year end #1, which she so richly deserves, but not nearly as rough as if she messes up that shoulder even more.
So in between huddling in the corner & feeling bad, I’m sending lots of positive vibes in the general direction of those muscle fibers!!
Vive l’epaule!!