Asian week

Kirilenko won in Seoul, Kuznetsova reached the final in Beijing

Svetlana Kuznetsova lost in the final of the Beijing second category BTA tournament with a prize fund of 600 thousand dollars, where she met with Jelena Jankovic from Serbia - 3:6, 2:6. Somewhat earlier, the men's competition ended there, in which the American Andy Roddick defeated the Israeli Dudu Sela - 6:4, 6:7 (6:8), 6:3. In the decisive round of another men's match in Bangkok, Serbian Novak Djokovic lost to Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga - 6:7 (4:7), 4:6. And Russian Maria Kirilenko won the third tournament of the season in Seoul.

Before yesterday's final, Kuznetsova and Yankovic met six times, and the St. Petersburg woman celebrated victory four times. The Serbian tennis player's successes date back to 2006 and 2007 - at the US Open and in Rome. Kuznetsova has celebrated success twice this season, the last time last week in Tokyo the Russian woman beat Jankovic - 2:6, 7:5, 7:5. However, in Beijing, the Serbian managed to rehabilitate herself for that defeat, finishing in just over an hour.

The Beijing tournament, like the previous competitions in Tokyo, went well for Kuznetsova at first. In Japan and Beijing she managed to make it to the finals. But if a week ago Dinara Safina became a stumbling block for Kuznetsova, this time it’s Yankovic. A day earlier, Yankovic had already knocked out another Russian, Vera Zvonareva, from the fight - 6:4, 2:6, 6:4. Svetlana in the other semi-final turned out to be stronger than the Chinese Zheng Jie - 7:6 (7:3), 7:5.

And yet, unlike Yankovic, the Russian woman managed to improve her position in the individual WTA classification. Last year, the Serbian tennis player reached the final of the competition in Beijing, but lost to Hungarian Agnes Savaj in the decisive round. This season there was no repeat of the misfire. But even if successful, Jankovic could not get ahead of the first racket of the WTA ranking, American Serena Williams, and therefore remains in second place on the list. Svetlana Kuznetsova did not take part in the 2007 Beijing tournament and this time, thanks to reaching the final, she was able to move from seventh to sixth position in the world ranking, displacing compatriot Maria Sharapova.

Let us remember that Sharapova was forced to miss the end of this season due to injury. As the tennis player herself wrote on her personal website, she is currently undergoing a rehabilitation course in a Phoenix clinic. “There is progress,” writes Sharapova, “but recovery is taking longer than I naively thought. Every day I do flexibility and legwork exercises. Next week I’ll start working with the ball, and after a few weeks I’ll try to serve.”

Maria Kirilenko became the winner of the tournament in Seoul. In the final, the 21-year-old Muscovite beat Samantha Stosur from Australia - 2:6, 6:1, 6:4. This title was the fifth for Kirilenko in his career and the third this season, following successes in Estoril and Barcelona. However, it is worth noting that throughout the 2008 season Maria performed very inconsistently. So, in the three tournaments preceding Seoul - in New Haven, at the US Open and Tokyo - she dropped out of the fight after the starting circle.

“In Tokyo I lost to Bartoli, at the US Open to Pashek. Both of these matches were very difficult, and in general this year I have had ups and downs. But I tried to focus on results in order to move up in the rankings, to get into the top 10 or top 15. I’m only 21 years old, and there’s still time for experiments,” Kirilenko did not despair. According to her, the victory in Seoul gave her confidence. “I’m happy to have reached the final of this tournament for the second time,” said Kirilenko, who lost in the decisive round to American Venus Williams last year. -- My semifinal match against Estonian Kaia Kanepi was very difficult. Especially when in the third set I was losing 0:2, but was able to bring the game to victory and reach the final.” And indeed, during the course of the tournament, which, however, due to its status (4th category), did not gather the strongest line-up of participants, Kirilenko dominated throughout the first three matches. She did not give up a single set to her rivals - Slovakian Lerka Vinerova and Lucie Safarova, who, losing in the first set, was forced to refuse to continue playing due to injury. Only Kanepi and Stosur lost a set each and eventually won this tournament. It is noteworthy that before this, Kirilenko met with Stosur three times and lost to her twice. Now the score of head-to-head matches is equal - 2:2. This week Kirilenko will compete at the Japanese Open, where she is seeded fourth.

Olga ERMOLINA