Kudryavtseva wins Russian battle in Tashkent

Tashkent, September 25: 7th seeded and world ranked 103rd player Alla Kudryavtseva outplayed 4th seeded and 72nd ranked Elena Vesnina in an all Russian final to lift the singles title at Tashkent Open.

Kudryavtseva, the runner-up at Gunagzhou , made it to a second final and beat better ranked Vesnina, 6-4 6-4 in 1 hour 34 minutes to become the first Russian player to win the title here in the last 12 years of the existence of the event . It was also her first WTA career title.

"I was a nervous for sure. I did not expect to win. It was high pressure situation.” Alla said. “The score line looked as if it was an easy final, but out there it wasn’t. The first was closed out with just one break but the second we both broke each other and was not getting easy at all. «My serve helped me more than anything else. I got it in big and it helped me.”

Being asked about her future events, Alla said: “Looking forward I don’t want to be carried away. I would like to have moderate expectations.”

When told that no winner of Tashkent Open has been back here to defend her title, Alla said “Yes I will return to defend my title, I would prefer to go to a place where I feel at home. Here in Tashkent there are many who speak Russian and I feel at home here. Moreover, one must go back to tournaments where you win as one feels good and it gets back the happy memories of the past year. So even if I could be ranked higher next year, I will return to defend my title.”

The dejected No.4 seed Elena Vesnina who looked in great form till the finals today said “I did not play as well as I played in the whole week, I congratulate Alla on winning her first title on the tour. I surely need to work hard on my game and strokes. But Alla played amazing tennis.”


The winner Kudryavtseva pocketed $37,000 and earned 280 WTA points, while the runner-up Vesnina took home $19,000 and 200 WTA points apart from the trade mark traditional gold embroidered Uzbek costume.

Players of the week : Zvonareva, Vesnina and Tecau

Yes, they are three this time. But how could I choose between the WIMBLEDON finalists? Vera, Elena and Horia were three of the important surprises of the tournament, reaching the finals of a Grand Slam for the first time.


Zvonareva reached the final in singles, after defeating Nuria Llagostera Vives (ESP), Andrea Hlavackova (CZE), Yanina Wickmayer (BEL) [15], Jelena Jankovic (SRB) [4], Kim Clijsters (BEL) [8] and Tsvetana Pironkova (BUL). She lost the final against the four-time Wimbledon champion and no.1 in the world, Serena Williams (USA). "I think it's great to be in the final", said Bepa, after her match against Serena. "I think I could have done better today. It's a bit disappointing because it's the final. You don't reach the Wimbledon final every year." Asked if she thinks Serena is beatable, Zvonareva answered: "Yeah, of course she's beatable. She's a human being. She's not a machine. I mean, it's very difficult to beat her. You have to play your best. But, you know, if you do, you can do it." Vera Zvonareva became only the third Russian female player to reach the Wimbledon final in singles, after Olga Morozova (1974) and Maria Sharapova (2004).


And she didn't limit only to the singles competition. She was the runner-up in the ladies' doubles competition too, with her partner, Elena Vesnina. After defeating Koryttseva (UKR)/Kustova (BLR), Chuang (TPE)/Govortsova (BLR) [17], Benesova (CZE)/Zahlavova Strycova (CZE) [12], the Williams sisters (USA) [1] and Dulko (ARG)/Pennetta (ITA) [4], they lost to Vania King (USA) and Yaroslava Shvedova (KAZ), another surprise of the tournament.

Horia Tecau wrote a beautiful page in the History book of the Romanian tennis. He is the first Romanian player who reached the final of a Grand Slam tournament, after 31 years. The last success came in 1979, when Virginia Ruzici (ROU) and Ion Tiriac (ROU) were playing the mixed doubles final at Roland Garros against Wendy Turnbull (AUS) and Bob Hewitt (RSA). Tecau and his partner Robert Lindstedt (SWE) have already won two trophies together, at Casablanca, in april and at Eastbourne, just before Wimbledon. Full of courage and hope, Tecau and Lindstedt made a BIG tournament, reaching the final, after defeating Friedl (CZE)/Skoch (CZE), Levine (USA)/Sweeting (USA), Bhupathi (IND)/Mirnyi (BLR) [4], Granollers (ESP)/Robredo (ESP) [11] and Chela (ARG)/Schwank (ARG). They lost the final against Jurgen Melzer (AUT) and Philipp Petzschner (GER). For this amazing result, the Lindstedt/Tecau team is no.9 ATP and moves closer by the ATP World Tour Finals.

I'm extremely happy for Horia, because he's from Romania and he makes our contry proud. We are proud to see that we still have great players, after the big name Ilie Nastase. It was a great tournament for them and I'm really sorry they didn't win, but they still have time. They make a very powerful team and it would be great to see them playing together for a long time, because they prooved they can make incredible matches. Now, I have to say, all my family watched their matches and supported them and we kind of adopted Rob too. :D So, congratulations, we all love you! :-) And of course, Vera was amazing, I'm sorry she couldn't win at least one of the competitions, but being the final is a very important result!