Bay City, Michigan 48706
Front Page 03/28/2024 16:42 About us
www.mybaycity.com February 15, 2009
(Prior Story)   Sports ArTicle 3576   (Next Story)

Czech Star Hradecka Wins Dow Corning Tennis Classic Over Greek Wild Card

Taiwan's Yi Chen, Japan's Rika Fujiwara Win Close Sets in Taking Doubles

February 15, 2009       Leave a Comment
By: Dave Rogers

Printer Friendly Story View

Lucie Hradecka of Czechoslovakia, singles winner in the Dow Corning Tennis Classic Sunday afternoon at Midland.
 
Elena Danilidou of Greece was a crowd favorite in the $75,000 tourney but fell in the finals.

Lucie Hradecka is already on her way from Midland to Memphis, Tennessee, for the next Women's Tennis Association tour event.

Hradecka bagged her first pro circuit event Sunday afternoon, packed up her rackets, pocketed the $11,400 top purse and a two carat diamond bracelet from Jenkins Jewelers of Midland and was on her way South.

Meanwhile, she awaits the Monday release of world rankings that likely will vault her at least a few notches above her current 114 spot.

Sixty four players from several dozen countries brought an international flavor to Midland for the annual week of tennis excitement.

Eleni Daniilidou, of Greece, a wild card entry in the 21st Dow Corning Tennis Classic, fought her way through three rounds into the finals Sunday but dropped a 6-3, 6-3 final match to Czechoslovakia's Hradecka.

Daniilidou became a crowd favorite at Midland for her scrappy play that saw her reach the finals with a gutsy 1-6, 7-6 (4), 6-2 win over Katie O'Brien of Yorkshire England in the semis.

"What should I say about this match??? Daniilidou commented. "Great nerves, great fight. I was down 1-6 3-5, 30-0 and I turned around all the match! In the beginning Katie was playing just too good. I couldn't do much...She was on the run completely. During the second set I came back and in the 3rd set I was moving and playing some great tennis. I could win clear my service games so it really helped a lot!"

The Midland Community Tennis Center on Saturday might have been a soccer stadium in Europe, or perhaps the Breslin Center at Michigan State University during a Spartan basketball game.

A sellout crowd of 1,200 cheered the Greek player who showed why she has been ranked as high as No. 14 in the world before a knee injury that put her out of commission most of 2008.

Hradecka was never seriously challenged in the finals that began at 1 p.m. Sunday. She held her serve throughout the match and her deep two-handed strokes off both sides kept the Greek flash behind the baseline most of the time.

While all the top seeds were knocked out early in the tourney, the match of the week proved to be No. 5 seed Hradecka vs. No. 4 seed Stephanie Foretz of France on Friday night. Hradecka won 7-6 (2), 6-4.

Several incredible shots proved the edge in the Hradecka-Fortz tussle, one magnificent save taking the first set to 5-5 after Foretz had accomplished an almost impossible dig.

On one point the crowd gasped as the ball fell untouched into the court when Foretz returned a hard smash by Hradecka. However, the amazing shot was anti-climactic as the Czech fought back and took control with her serve and deep ground strokes.

The French girl had an unfortunate double fault that allowed Hradecka to go to 4-3 and serve out the match.

Top seed Alla Kudryavtseva, ranked No. 65 in the world, was ousted in the second round by qualifier Irina-Camelia Begu of Romania 6-2, 6-1 Thursday night.

"She played better," said Kudryavtseva. "I have only been the No. 1 seed one time before tonight and I was nervous. There was a lot of pressure on me in this match."

Begu lost only one set in five days of competition at Midland, including three qualifying matches and two main draw events. The happy 18-year-old Begu said: "I served well and was able to keep her off-balance. I could hardly have played better."

However, Begu went down to Katie O'Brien 6-1, 6-5 in the third round. No. 2 seed Melinda Czink of Hungary was shelved in the first round by Evgeniya Rodina of Russia. Rodina then took out No. 7 seed Stephanie DuBois of Canada in three tough sets in the quarter finals.

No. 6 seed Vavara Lepchenko of the U.S. met defeat in the first round, going out to Chanelle Scheepers of South Africa 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.

Vania King, No. 8 seed from the U.S., lost to Olga Puchkova of Russia 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the second round.

Julie Ditty, No. 3 seed, fell in the first round to Yuliana Fedak, of the Ukraine, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2.

Diminutive Yi Chen of Taiwan, and lanky Rika Fujiwara of Japan made a great doubles team and were smoothly through the tourney after taking out No. 1 ranked Julie Ditty and Courtney Nagle of the U.S. in the first round 6-3, 7-5.

The pair was awarded the doubles prize of $4,180 while runners-up Melinda Czink of Hungary and Lindsay Lee-Waters of the U.S. got the consolation of $2,090. The score of the doubles match final was 7-5, 7-6 (5).###

Printer Friendly Story View
Prior Article

February 10, 2020
by: Rachel Reh
Family Winter Fun Fest is BACC Hot Spot for 2/10/2020
Next Article

February 2, 2020
by: Kathy Rupert-Mathews
MOVIE REVIEW: "Just Mercy" ... You Will Shed Tears, or at Least You Should
Agree? or Disagree?


Dave Rogers

Dave Rogers is a former editorial writer for the Bay City Times and a widely read,
respected journalist/writer in and around Bay City.
(Contact Dave Via Email at carraroe@aol.com)

More from Dave Rogers

Send This Story to a Friend!       Letter to the editor       Link to this Story
Printer-Friendly Story View


--- Advertisments ---
     


0200 Nd: 03-24-2024 d 4 cpr 0






12/31/2020 P3v3-0200-Ad.cfm

SPONSORED LINKS



12/31/2020 drop ads P3v3-0200-Ad.cfm


Designed at OJ Advertising, Inc. (V3) (v3) Software by Mid-Michigan Computer Consultants
Bay City, Michigan USA
All Photographs and Content Copyright © 1998 - 2024 by OJA/MMCC. They may be used by permission only.
P3V3-0200 (1) 0   ID:Default   UserID:Default   Type:reader   R:x   PubID:mbC   NewspaperID:noPaperID
  pid:1560   pd:11-18-2012   nd:2024-03-24   ax:2024-03-28   Site:5   ArticleID:3576   MaxA: 999999   MaxAA: 999999
claudebot