2009 WTA Tour – LA WOMEN’S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS Held at the Home Depot Center, Carson, Ca. – 2

CARSON – Eleventh in the world, Ana Ivanovic stands head and shoulders above Vania King and for a while it seemed as if her tennis game would also tower over the wild card from Long Beach, California at the Los Angeles Women’s Tennis Championships Tuesday night.

Down 5-1 in the first set, the spunky 20 year old rallied, trading hard fast groundstrokes with the Serbian slugger. “I felt she was overpowering me. So I played to her backhand, returning deeper. I didn’t give her too much time to play the ball,” said King.

King lost the first set 6-4, learning quickly you can’t hit a short ball to a six-footer.

Starting the second set, Ivanovic saved two points, successfully challenging line calls. But it wasn’t enough. A composed King hung in to take the set 6-4.

“She got nervous.” Said King.

“It was my first match since Wimbledon and I made some bad shot selections,” explained Ivanovic.

About the second game of the 3rd set Ivanovic seemed to find her inner champion and easily commanded play winning 6-1.

“I was in control until then and lost it,” said King.

Ivanovic explained, “I could see in her body language that she got a little disappointed so I used that.”

This is the third time the two have met on the court. While she lost badly the first two, King is happy with her performance this time. “I’m feeling more confident,” she said. “My coach tells me I can play there with the top players.”

Ranked 106, she said “I’m doing a better job of staying tough mentally.”

Serves may have been a factor. King’s serves rarely broke 90 mph while Ivanovic’s were consistently over 100 mph. Still Ivanovic said her serves were off a little bit. “The serve was getting me frustrated.”

Ivanovic said she’s happy with the win and to advance to the next round. She will play the winner of the Samantha Stosur-Maria Kirilenko match Wednesday.

Mattek-Sands Out In The First Round

After a close first set, American Bethanie Mattek-Sands seemed to lose steam early in the second set against Canadian Aleksandra Wosniak.

After giving up the first two games, Mattek-Sands dug deep to even up the score 2-2, hitting an astonishing dropper from the baseline.

At 4-2, she reached wide and softly placed another short shot just feet from the net to get another game 4-3. However when she could have tied the match 4-4, she lost two critical deuce points into the net, losing the match 7-5, 7-5.

But Wosniack barely had time to savor her win before her coach had her practicing returning drop shots on a nearby court.

Spear, Shaughnessy Unable To Overcome Italians

San Diego native Abigail Spears lost all hope for a 4th WTA doubles title Tuesday afternoon.

A strong Italian team steamrolled over Spears and her partner Meghann Shaughnessy to an easy win 6-1, 6-4.

It seemed as if Tathiana Garbin and Franchesca Schiavone could read each other’s minds, time and again placing the ball where their opponents weren’t.

But still the US team Spears and Shaughnessy showed their championship stripes with some brilliant exchanges that seemed to include every shot in tennis, drives, lobs, volleys, touch and overhead smashes expertly returned.

But still the US team Spears and Shaughnessy showed their championship stripes with some brilliant exchanges that seemed to include every shot in tennis, drives, lobs, volleys, touch and overhead smashes expertly returned.

RESULTS – TUESDAY, AUGUST 4, 2009

Singles – Second Round
(6) Ana Ivanovic (SRB) d. (WC) Vania King (USA) 64 46 61

Singles – First Round
(12) Li Na (CHN) d. Ayumi Morita (JPN) 60 20 ret. (GI illness)
(13) Samantha Stosur (AUS) d. Monica Niculescu (ROU) 61 62
(14) Zheng Jie (CHN) d. (Q) Olga Savchuk (UKR) 75 16 62
(17) Sabine Lisicki (GER) d. (Q) Kimiko Date Krumm (JPN) 76(5) 26 75
Daniela Hantuchova (SVK) d. (Q) Melanie Oudin (USA) 67(3) 62 62
Sorana Cirstea (ROU) d. (WC) Michelle Larcher de Brito (POR) 64 75
Aleksandra Wozniak (CAN) d. Bethanie Mattek-Sands (USA) 75 75
Ekaterina Makarova (RUS) d. Melinda Czink (HUN) 36 64 61
Maria Kirilenko (RUS) d. (Q) Chanelle Scheepers (RSA) 46 63 61
Urszula Radwanska (POL) d. Julie Coin (FRA) 61 62

Doubles – First Round
(2) Hantuchova/Sugiyama (SVK/JPN) d. (WC) Craybas/Gullickson (USA/USA) 64 61
Garbin/Schiavone (ITA/ITA) d. Shaughnessy/Spears (USA/USA) 61 64
A.Bondarenko/Vesnina (UKR/RUS) d. Kleybanova/Makarova (RUS/RUS) 64 76(4)

About the Tournament

The LA Women’s Tennis Championships presented by Herbalife, in its 39th year, is one of the most historic events in women’s tennis and is being held for the sixth consecutive year at The Home Depot Center. The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Premier event offers prize money of $700,000 to the 56-player singles and 16-team doubles draws. The distinguished tournament champions list includes Dinara Safina, Kim Clijsters, Serena Williams, Lindsay Davenport, Monica Seles, Steffi Graf, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova and Billie Jean King, all of whom have also been ranked No. 1 on the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour during their careers.

The LA Women’s Tennis Championships presented by Herbalife is part of the prestigious Olympus US Open Series, which links nine summer hard-court tournaments to the famed U.S. Open. This year’s tournament marks the sixth year players competing in the U.S. Open Series tournaments will be vying for bonus prize money at the U.S. Open. Players competing in the “summer season” of tennis at the participating Sony Ericsson WTA Tour tournaments will receive Olympus U.S. Open Series points, which will ultimately earn the series winner the opportunity to double her U.S. Open prize purse.