• 
• 

Published on October 16, 2007

Italian Flavia Pennetta claimed her fourth career title after she outclassed young Taiwan rival Chan Yung-jan 6-1 6-3 in the rain-interrupted final of the US$200,000 PTT Bangkok Open yesterday.

The former world No 16 proved her victory over Venus Williams in the semi-final was no fluke as she staged a superb performance to win her first title on a hard court in the final disrupted by rain for more than four hours.

Three of her previous trophies all came on clay - Sopot in 2004 and Bogota and Acapulco in 2005. She completed her Asian Tour with a solid record of 13-3 wins.

"This is not my best court as I prefer clay and grass. I would leave here with the good memory of beating great players like Venus and [Shahar] Peer," said the world No 49 who was concerned that the rain delay might give her opponent a chance to turn things around.

"In tennis anything can happen. It was a tough condition for me as everybody expected me to win and I had to wait for the rain to stop," added the 25-year-old, who reached the quarter-finals in Kolkata then the semis in Seoul and Tokyo before ending up a champion here.

"I feel very comfortable here. People are nice. I want to come back and go to Phuket," added Pennetta.

In the doubles final, top pair Sun Tina-tian and Zi Yan of China won the title by default as Japan's Ayumi Morita, who teamed up with Junri Namigata, had a stomach ache.

Despite the loss, Chan hoped this experience would benefit her career in the future.

"She played well, didn't make mistakes and deserved to win. I was a bit disappointed to lose my first WTA final but I still have my chance in the future," said the 18-year-old who wants to make the top 20 in the world.

The first set was one-way traffic as Pennetta displayed masterful groundstrokes to exert pressure on her younger opponent. Chan doubled faulted to drop the first game and fell 0-2 and deuce when rain first halted play.

They resumed the rivalry 10 minutes later and the teenager held her only game to follow 1-2. The Italian had all the answers for Chan even from the baseline or at the net, rapidly racing to a 5-1 lead. She broke a love game to win the opener, which was completed with an easy smash.

Thick clouds eventually spread across the sky and Chan was given time to revise what went wrong in her game when rain suspended play during the first game of the second set.

After four marathon hours, the Taiwanese appeared to find her way back in the match as she broke for the first time to lead 2-1. But the more consistent Pennetta generated more power from the back of the court to break right back.

Both players traded several breaks with Pennetta leading at 4-3. The Italian whipped a forehand down the line on a service return winner to go up at 5-3. Chan gritted her teeth to have triple break points at 0-40, but Pennetta came up with her top game when she needed it most to save them all.

After she lost the first match point on a backhand error, the Italian blast a big serve to set up her second chance and closed out the fight with a forehand winner.

Lerpong Amsa-ngiam

The Nation

Nonthaburi