Extraordinary

Tamarine Tanasugarn finally realised a dream by capturing her first title on grass at the US$175,000 Ordina Open at Den Bosch.

What made the 7-5 6-3 win sweeter was that it came against world No 9 and Roland Garros runner-up Dinara Safina of Russia after one hour and 58 minutes of heart-pounding action.

This was her first WTA title on grass, the surface she is most comfortable on. Her previous best on the surface was a runner-up finish in Birmingham in 2000.

Her second title comes five years after her win at the Hyderabad Open on hard court. It was a fairytale ending for the 31-year-old who almost retired ahead of the quarter-final with an arm injury.

"I came here on Sunday morning and had to play two matches that day. I've been hitting a lot of balls this week. I'd never imagined I would be standing here."

"Dunk U Wel," Tamarine said thanking the Dutch crowd, wearing an orange cap. She became the only qualifier to win a title this year.

Tamarine won US$28,000 and is likely to move from 85th to the top 60 next week in the world rankings. She also returned the favour to Safina who handed her an easy defeat on clay in Amelia Island four years.

"I have to give credit to Tammy. She mixed up her game and made me go crazy,'' said the younger sister of Marat Safin who never found her groove against her crafty opponent.

In fact, Safina could have taken the first set serving at 5-4 after breaking Tamarine with a backhand winner. But she was broken back in the next game. The tide then turned in favour of the Thai as the Russian sprayed her shots wide to lose the first set.

After holding for 3-2, Tamarine took a medical time-out to have her left calf bandaged, amidst rising doubt if she would last the fight. But just like in her previous seven matches, she refused to throw in the towel and insisted on taking her chances. And it paid off.

She broke Safina for a 4-2 lead, courtesy of two double faults by the Russian.

That break was enough for her to close the match which ended with the erratic Safina netting a forehand on the third championship point.

Tammy Trail

CHAMPION

2003 Hyderabad Iroda Tulyaganova

FINALIST

1996 Pattaya Ruxandra Dragomir

2000 Birmingham Lisa Raymond

2001 Tokyo Monica Seles

2002 Canberra Anna Smashnova

2002 Doha Monica Seles

2006 Bangkok Vania King

Ordina Queens

2007 Anna Chakvetadze

2006 Michaella Krajicek

2005 Klara Koukalova

2004 Mary Pierce

2003 Kim Clijsters

2002 Eleni Daniilidou

2001 Justine Henin

2000 Martina Hingis

1999 Kristina Brandi