Sport | Tennis

Diatchenko sets up exciting Al Habtoor final

Russian Vitalia Diatchenko and third seed Urszula Radwanska entered their first–ever singles final of the $75,000 (Dh2.75 million) tournament in contrasting fashion at the 10th Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge on Friday.

  • By Alaric Gomes, Staff Reporter
  • Published: 23:03 December 19, 2008
  • Gulf News

  • Image Credit: Francois Nel⁄Gulf News
  • Vitalia Diatchenko in action at the Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge in Dubai.

Dubai: Russian Vitalia Diatchenko and third seed Urszula Radwanska entered their first–ever singles final of the $75,000 (Dh2.75 million) tournament in contrasting fashion at the 10th Al Habtoor Tennis Challenge on Friday.

Diatchenko battled her way past Slovakia's Kristina Kucova 6–3, 3–6, 6–4, while third seed Radwanska stunned top seed and tournament favourite Stefanie Voegele 6–3, 6–1 at the Habtoor Grand Resort and Spa yesterday.

The 18–year–old Russian will meet Radwanska in today's final, starting at 3pm.

Voegele, who had last week won the Swiss National Championship, stumbled against her opponent from Poland, and clearly unhappy with the way things progressed, stomped off the court.

Watching the second semifinal between the top and third seeds, Diatchenko was committed to give off her best today.

"No special treatment for her. I will play my normal game," the Russian told Gulf News.

Yesterday was the first time in three rounds that the Russian, ranked No.273 coming into this tournament, has been extended to three sets.

She started off well winning the opening set 6–3, but with the wind playing a crucial role, the tables were turned in the second as Kucova went on to draw level with a 6–3 score in the second.

In the third set, Diatchenko was headed towards a win when a sudden lapse in concentration saw her Slovakian opponent draw near with a break in the ninth game to trail 4–5. But Diatchenko held her nerve and went on to win the set and match 6–4.

"I suddenly seemed to fall asleep. I was concentrating and then suddenly I saw her narrow the gap at 5–4, so I got up and decided to get through with it," she rued.

"I cannot afford to make similar mistakes in the final tomorrow. I will be focused and extra motivated to give my best and win this tournament," the Russian added as she headed to watch the second semifinals.

"I need to see how they play so that I can come up with some more tactics tomorrow," Diatchenko smiled. Kucova was gracious in defeat. "My opponent played better. I should have won the first set, but I made too many errors," stated the Slovak.


The second semifinal was an anti–climax as Radwanska broke her opponent's resistance in the fifth and never looked back after that. "I just kept on improving with every game and there was nothing she could have possibly done with the way I was playing," Radwanska stated.

Meanwhile, the combination of Irena Pavlovic and Masa Zec–Peskiric got the better of Elena Chalova and Valeria Sivinykh 7–6, 3–6, 10–3 to win the doubles title. Khalaf Al Habtoor, Chairman of the Khalaf Group was the chief guest and awarded the trophies.

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