CINCINNATI: Unseeded Russian Vera Zvonareva captured her second WTA title of the year on Sunday with a straight-set victory over fourth-seeded Slovenian Katarina Srebotnik.
Zvonareva, who vanquished seven-time Grand Slam champion Serena Williams in the semi-finals on Saturday, nabbed one more upset for the week with her 6-2 6-4 victory over Srebotnik. She turned back a late challenge from the fourth seed, who battled back from 1-3 down to even the second set at 3-all. The Slovenian saved one match point before succumbing in 56 minutes.
“I was fighting for every point,” said Zvonareva, who won their only previous meeting on clay in Croatia in 2002. “It was a long time since I last played her, and I didn’t know what to expect, so I just figured it out on the court. I had a few less errors than her, too.”
A former top-10 player who has fallen to 50th in the world, Zvonareva put in an impressive week’s work in Cincinnati.
She had beaten seventh-seeded Tatiana Golovin in the first round and fifth-seeded Jelena Jankovic in the quarter-finals before stopping Williams’s impressive return from injury with a 6-2 6-3 semi-final win. All but one of Zvonareva’s matches lasted less than an hour, with her win over Williams taking barely more than that at 66 minutes.
“No matter what the scores were, you always feel under pressure,” Zvonareva said. “The match can turn at any time.” Srebotnik had ousted top seed and defending champion Patty Schnyder of Switzerland to reach the her first final of the year.
Zvonareva added the crown to the title she won on grass at Birmingham, England, in the build-up to Wimbledon in June. That victory had ended a 17-month title drought for the 21-year-old Russian, while her victory here gave her five career WTA titles. “She’s been playing unbelievable since Birmingham,” said Srebotnik.
“But I won the most games in one set from her this week so I’m happy about that. We
play in the first round next week in Stanford, so I hope to get revenge then.”
