Zvonareva demolishes Mirza, wins first title of year in Pattaya City

Top seed Vera Zvonareva showed that she was strong enough to win the PTT Pattaya Open this week, as she defeated Sania Mirza of India to win her eighth title of her career.

The Russian fought hard to win this final, and she did, with a score of 75 61.

"I was able to take a 5-2 lead, but it didn't really mean much because every game was very tough - it was close from the beginning," Zvonareva said. "She was able to lift her game up a little bit, and maybe I wasn't exactly playing as aggressively as I normally do. The rhythm changed and it was 5-all; I'm very happy with the way I lifted my own game at that point. After I won the first set I really started to play my game and didn't give her a chance to play how she wanted to play. I'm really happy with the way I finished the match."

"The opening set could have gone either way, but when you're playing against someone who's so good, if you don't take your chances - the one or two that you get - you will pay a price for it," Mirza said. "She played a great match. I felt like I played okay as well. I was striking the ball well."

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Singles - Final

(1) Vera Zvonareva (RUS) d. Sania Mirza (IND) 75 61