Sorry to get all gushy, but I feel like I’ve been down on the WTA lately, and Sunday’s Family Circle Cup final has perked me up – considerably! This was a FANTASTIC match featuring two promising young stars. Here are some highlights:
Caroline Wozniacki continues to impress me. For all her sweetness and light, she’s a fighter on court. She played a tough, grinding, 3 hour long match against Elena Dementieva in the semis on Saturday and wasn’t in tip-top condition to face Sabine. But Sabine played so well, it probably didn’t matter.
And Sabine! She caught my eye when she beat Venus Williams this week in the Rd. of 16, and with her win on Sunday, I’ve developed a full blown crush. When you hit 9 aces and 25 ground stroke winners to take your first WTA tour title (and a Premier-level one at that) you’ll inevitably gain some admirers.
Also heartwarming (and ear-soothing): neither player has a high-decibel grunt that makes me want to mute the television. Sabine keeps hers under control and Caroline, miraculously, doesn’t make a peep. Yet another promising development on the WTA tour!
So now I have two new loves on the women’s side – Sabine Lisicki and last week’s Marbella finalist, Carla Suarez Navarro. Throw in Wozniacki, a healthy Serb and a mentally stable Safina, and we’ve got ourselves some legitimate competition for the Williams Tennis Agressors. Now who’s looking forward to the rest of the clay court season?
Before I forget:
Congrats to Nadia Petrova and another personal hero, Bethanie Mattek-Sands, for beating Liga Dekmeijere and Patty Schnyder in the Family Circle Cup doubles final.
Best non-slam trophies of the season (so far) go to the finalists of the Barcelona Ladies Open, winner Roberta Vinci and runner-up Maria Kirilenko, who both took home some classy hardware. Llagostera Vives/Martina Sanchez defeated Cirstea/Klepac in the doubles.
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