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SHANGHAI, Sept 15: Anna Kournikova’s hopes of ending a seven-year search for a WTA singles title were crushed by Anna Smashnova in the Shanghai Open final on Sunday.
While the top-seeded Israeli collected her sixth career title with a comfortable 6-2, 6-3 victory, Kournikova was left to reflect on another missed opportunity, having lost her three previous finals.
The Russian could not cope with her 26-year-old opponent’s explosive serves and booming groundstrokes as she slipped to a predictable defeat.
The 21-year-old did improve after a sluggish start and managed to break serve in the second set, but she was no match for her powerful opponent who she beat on their last meeting in Stanford in July.
Smashnova, who came to the tournament ranked 19th in the world, easily put paid to Kournikova’s attempts to lure her to the net and only had to wait for her fourth-seeded opponent to make an unforced error.
Kournikova, whose commercial endorsements dwarf her career earnings, was appearing in her first final since Moscow 2000, since when injuries and loss of form briefly dropped her to 99th in the WTA rankings from a career high eighth. She came into the tournament ranked 38th.
SALVADOR (Brazil): Gustavo Kuerten reached his first ATP final for 13 months on Saturday after overcoming stubborn resistance to beat unseeded Paraguayan Ramon Delgado 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 at the Brazil Open.
Kuerten, whose last final was in Indianapolis in August last year, faces Guillermo Coria in final after the unseeded Argentine beat Cecil Mamit of the United States 7-5, 6-2.
Russia’s third-seeded Anastasia Myskina won the second WTA tournament of her career when she beat number eight seed Eleni Daniilidou 6-3, 0-6, 6-2.—Reuters
