Dinara Safina from Russia serves to Laura Pous Tio from Spain during their WTA Prague Open semifinal tennis match in Prague, Czech Republic on Saturday, May 14, 2005. Safina defeated Pous Tio 4-6, 6-2, 7-5.
Photo: AP
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Dinara Safina Retrieves Defeat of Russian Tennis Players
Maria Sharapova of Russia lost to Switzerland’s Patty Schnyder at the Italian Masters semifinal tennis tournament in Rome May 14, 2005. Schnyder stopped Sharapova en route to becoming the number one in tennis. Top seed in the WTA Prague Open, Russian Dinara Safina defeated Czech Zuzana Ondraskova and won the tournament.
Once Safina reaches the final, she almost always wins it. Actually, she was beaten only once in the previous four finals. Safina was the favorite in Prague, as the strongest women in tennis fought at the Italian Masters in Rome last week and there was no one able to stop the Russian. It is the second WTA won by Dinara this year after her Paris victory. Dinara was also the best in Sopot in 2002 and won in Palermo in a year.
The things turned out much worse in Rome, despite the hopes cherished by Russian fans, looking forward to the Russian final. But first Maria Sharapova was ousted by Patty Schnyder. The defeat was even more disappointing as Sharapova was aiming to replace Lindsay Davenport at the head of the WTA rankings. Amelie Mauresmo beat sixth seed Vera Zvonareva of Russia and advanced to the final. Mauresmo won from Schnyder in the hot contest and got the WTA title, adding another victory to her superb record of 18 tournaments taken before.
The Hamburg Masters ended by the victory of the world number one Roger Federer of Switzerland, who beat Frenchman Richard Gasquet in the final. Federer has won six tournaments this year, including three Masters.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of May 16, 2005
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