Former US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova captured her first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour title in nearly two years on Sunday in Stuttgart, Germany.
Kuznetsova, the 2004 winner at Flushing Meadows, beat her countrywoman and world number one Dinara Safina to win the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.
Safina headed into today’s final with a 7-4 lifetime advantage over Kuznetsova, but lost her first tournament as the best player in the world in straight sets 6-4, 6-3.
Before today’s win, Kuznetsova had lost ten of her last eleven finals.
“At the beginning today I was a little bit nervous,” Kuznetsova said after the match. “It’s tough for me to play finals – I haven’t won too many of them lately. But I started playing better and better as the match went on and I was able to win.”
In just their fourth outing as a team, Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Nadia Petrova won their second straight Premier title, having won at Charleston last month. Mattek Sands and Petrova defeated Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta 5-7, 6-3, 10-7.
And as a commentary on Safina’s lack of credibility as #1: quod erat demonstrandum.
Since the beginning of 2009 Safina has been dismantled by Dementieva (Sydney) and slammed by Serena (Melbourne) and retired by Razzano (Dubai) and axed by Azarenka (Indian Wells) and sunk by Stosur and, now kicked by Kuznetsova. Sure, Dinara has come close to winning a title this year. But after six tries she’s still a bridesmaid.
Does this series of losses look like a trend going into Rome and beyond? Or, to be charitable, will the law of averages take hold and allow the “#1 female tennis player in the world” to win a few and live up to the honor of her ranking. There’s a lot of point-heavy clay ahead. Safina hardly looks ready for it.
Well said, Wilson. Dinara has just not looked as convincing this season as she did during parts of 2008.
At this point, I don’t see her hanging onto the No. 1 ranking for long. The ranking points race is tight, plus Dinara needs to defend nearly 2000 points between now and Wimbledon.
I’m so happy for Sveta. I am usually a Dinara fan but I rooted for Sveta because of her dismal record in title finals – I badly wanted her to win one and she did!
[...] played Kuznetsova only last week in the final at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, where she lost to Svetlana 6-4, [...]