Zvonareva ousts defending champ; takes title at Indian Wells

No. 4 seed Vera Zvonareva and No. 5 seed and defending champion Ana Ivanovic went face to face at the final of the BNP Paribas Open, and it was the Russian who prevailed in straight sets to win the singles crown, along with the doubles title yesterday.

Zvonareva won the first set to the Serb toughly, as she was serving to stay in the set at 5-6, and took it to a tiebreak where she won it with a score of 7-5. The second set had a tough start too, as the Russian was down 2-0, but then came back to win 6 games in a row to take the match, 76(5) 62.

"It's amazing. It's a great feeling to win such a big event. I'm still a little bit in the match," Zvonareva said. "I think I did a great job. Even though I made some mistakes and had some frustrating points with the wind, I was still trying to concentrate. I was fighting for every point, no matter what. Even if I was down 0-40 in a game I played for it. Maybe I was better at doing that today than Ana."

The doubles title was won by Vera with Victoria Azarenka, whom she beat in the semis of the tournament, as they won to Gisela Dulko and Shahar Peer.

Sunday, March 22, 2009

Singles - Final

(4) Vera Zvonareva (RUS) d. (5) Ana Ivanovic (SRB) 76(5) 62