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Zvonareva Broke Through Final
Russia's Vera Zvonareva won the final match against Victoria Azarenka of Belarus at the Prague Open 2008 tennis tournament in Prague May 4, 2008. The victory interrupted the series of final misfortunes that had chased the Russian this year. In the men’s tennis, Rafael Nadal of Spain added another title to his record once he triumphed at the Barcelona tournament.
Zvonareva had advanced to three finals this season before the Prague victory, to no avail though. She had to withdraw because of the ankle injury in Hobart and the title went to Greece's Eleni Daniilidou. Zvonareva progressed to Doha final but only to yield to Maria Sharapova, who was crushing anyone en route in early this year. Vera faced Serena Williams in Charleston final in April and was overwhelmed by the American.
Fortunately, the trend was broken in Prague. The Prague Open is the four-category tournament and doesn’t match Doha and Charleston either in rating scores or prize money (just $145,000). But it was vital in terms of giving the chance to gain self-confidence anew.
The victory of the Russian didn’t steal the show. Zvonareva played world No. 26 Victoria Azarenka of Belarus and lost the initiative at the beginning (0-2). But she won the tie break and dominated in the second set. The Russian broke in the fifth game to lead 3-2 and to lose no more games to Victoria till the end of the match. As a result, Vera needed two sets to add the sixth WTA title to her victory record.
In the men’s tennis, Rafael Nadal of Spain again dominated on clay by tiumphing over his compatriot David Ferrer in the final of the Barcelona Open. Of 104 clay matches, Nadal lost only one, when Roger Federer defeated him past spring in Hamburg. Nadal played in 21 finals on clay overall and won 20 of them.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of May 05, 2008
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