'S-HERTOGENBOSCH, The Netherlands - Thailand's Tamarine Tanasugarn has been excelling on grass her whole career and on Saturday she became the first player ever to capture back-to-back titles at the Ordina Open.
Tanasugarn's title defense was smooth to start, as she dispatched Barbora Zahlavova Strycova and No.7 seed Iveta Benesova handily in straight sets in the first and second rounds. She had to battle back against No.3 seed Flavia Pennetta in the quarterfinals, however, dropping the first set quickly before rallying to win, 26 63 63; in the semifinals she toppled top seed Dinara Safina, 75 75, to become the first Thai ever to beat a reigning world No.1.
In the final, Tanasugarn took on wildcard Yanina Wickmayer, who had also only dropped one set, to Francesca Schiavone in the semis. But the Thai's greater grass court experience may have helped push her through, as she dispatched the young Belgian - 13 years her junior, at 19 - in straight sets, 63 75.
"It was a tough match. Yanina did a good job running me around. I'm happy I held on to win," Tanasugarn said. "Last year it was a great experience to win here and I'm so proud I could do it again. I love playing here."
Tanasugarn captured her first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles title on the hardcourts of Hyderabad six years ago, and her now won her second and third on the lawns of 's-Hertogenbosch. Five of her seven career Top 10 wins have come on this surface, in 2001 over Nathalie Tauziat and Amélie Mauresmo, in 2008 over Safina and Jelena Jankovic and now another over Safina. The 32-year-old's flat, compact groundstrokes make her so dangerous this time of year, and next week she will try to pull off back-to-back quarterfinals at Wimbledon, having gone that far last year - her first Grand Slam quarterfinal showing.
Wickmayer falls to 1-2 in singles finals on the Tour. She was a runner-up on grass in Birmingham almost exactly a year ago, and during this year's clay court season won her first Tour title on the clay of Estoril.
The doubles final was played on Friday, with Sara Errani and Flavia Pennetta beating Michaella Krajicek and Yanina Wickmayer in a match tie-break for the title, 64 57 1311. Krajicek and Wickmayer saved four match points late in the match tie-break - three down 9-6, one more down 10-9 - and even held one of their own at 11-10, but the Italians held on for their first title together.
"I'm very happy to have won the Ordina Open this week," said Errani, who won her second Tour doubles title. "I really enjoyed playing with Flavia this week. Hopefully we can play together again, it was a lot of fun and we did great."
"Michaella and Yanina played a great match today, and I want to wish Yanina the best of luck in the singles final tomorrow," said Pennetta, who took home her fifth Tour doubles title. "This was the first time I played with Sara and we had so much fun and did so well, we'll have to do it again soon!"
