January 13th, 2008
Hobart, Tasmania and Sydney, Australia
The women's tour stopped in popular cities, Hobart and Sydney for final preparation for next weeks Australian Open in Melbourne. Sydney which is always a popular destination boasted a full field, which held the top 4 players in the world attending the Medibank International, all hoping to get confidence for next weeks Grand Slam.
However, Hobart was the first stop and it was, as it always is the smaller event which even had Serena Williams last year attend. This year however the field was rather small with only familiar names being Vera Zvonereva and Eleni Daniilidou, and it was Daniilidou who fought hard during the week and ended up winning the tournament by default when Zvonereva sprained her ankle and could not even hit a ball. It was the Greek's 5th overall career title and with it, she earned $25,650 dollars.
Sydney which was the bigger story of the week held the best names in tennis, such as Justine Henin, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Ana Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic and Nicole Vaidasova. With such top names, its no doubt that the competition would be fierce. And it was, tough three set semi-finals led to a tough Finals, between the number 1 and 2 players in the world, Henin and Kuznetsova. The pair met last summer during the US Open Finals, with Henin winning easily. This time though it was the same result, just much tougher.
The end score was Justine Henin defeating Svetlana Kuznetsova, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4. It was Justine's 28th straight match victory and her 40th career title. It was also the third time she had won down in Sydney, with titles coming in 2004 and 2006. Henin took home $95,500 dollars for her effort and heads into next weeks Australian Open as the favorite for the title.
Next week, each day will have small coverage of the top players, names such as Williams, Henin, Sharapova, Davenport, Kuznetsova, Jankovic, Ivanovic. All player coverage, everyday of the Australian Open.
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