Dream week in Seoul for veteran Date Krumm

WTA Tour

On the day before her 39th birthday former world number four Kimiko Date Krumm completed a fairytale week by winning the Hansol Korea Open in Seoul.  It is an eighth WTA tour title for the former world number four and first in over thirteen years since winning San Diego in August 1996. 
 
- Date Krumm is the second oldest player to win a WTA tour singles title in the Open era. Billie Jean King. was aged 39 and seven months when she won Birmingham in 1983.

Leading into Seoul Date Krumm had lost all eight main draw matches she had played on the WTA tour since her comeback in April 2008. This all changed in the Korean capital. After beating wildcard Lee Ya-Ra the veteran fought back from 4-6 2-5 down and saved a match point to beat fifth seeded Alysa Kleybanova before recording three set victories over top seeded Daniela Hantuchova and defending Champion Maria Kirilenko to reach the final.  She sealed victory with a 6-3 6-3 win over the second seed Anabel Medina Garrigues in the final. 
 
- Date reached three Grand Slam semi-finals in the 1990s: 1994 Australian Open, 1995 French Open, 1996 Wimbledon.

Since her return to professional tennis Date-Krumm has won four singles titles on the ITF tour and two doubles titles and reached the doubles final at the WTA event in Guangzhou the week before Seoul. She also successfully qualified for the Australian Open and as a wildcard entrant at Wimbledon had led ninth seeded Caroline Wozniacki 7-5 3-1 before losing to the young Dane in the first round.
 
- The best win of Date Krumm's early career was a titanic 7-6 3-6 12-10 win over then world number one Steffi Graf in 1996 Fed Cup action between Japan and Germany. It was her only win in eight meetings against the German legend.
 
At the International level tournament In Tashkent, Uzbekistan second seed Shahar Peer took her second title in two weeks with a 6-3 6-4 defeat of Akgul Amanmuradova in the final.  For the second consecutive week the former top twenty player did not drop a set all week en route to the title, the fifth WTA tour title of her career. Amanmuradova, playing in front of her home crowd, had taken out top seeded Yaroslava Shvedova in the semi-finals to reach her second WTA tour final.
 
- Peer shares the best ever ranking for an Israeli woman of 15 with compatriot Anna Smashnova.
 

ATP Tour

 
At the ATP World Tour 250 event in Metz top seeded Gael Monfils won his first title in over four years with a 7-6(1) 3-6 6-2 win over second seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber in the final.  The 23 year-old Frenchman had won his only other career title at Sopot in 2005 and had lost his last six finals on the tour. Currently ranked at 13, the charismatic Monfils broke into the top 10 for the first time in February this year reaching his current career high ranking of 9 in March.
 
- It was the fifth time on the ATP World Tour in 2009 that the top two seeds have met in the final.
 
For 25 year-old Kohlschreiber it was a fourth ATP tour final and his first of 2009.  By virtue of reaching the final the German moved up to a career high ranking of 22.  He achieved his beat win of the season at Roland Garros where he beat fourth seeded Novak Djokovic in straight sets in the third round. 
 
- Kohlschrieber has yet to progress past the fourth round at a Grand Slam, falling in the last 16 on three occasions.
 
Metz also saw notable progress from former world number seven Richard Gasquet who battled through three consecutive three set matches to reach the semi-finals where he fell 4-6 3-6 to Monfils.  It was the 23 year-old's best performance since returning to the tour at the end of August following his suspension for alleged drug use.
 
- Monfils has levelled his head-to-head with Gasquet to 2-2. Three of the meetings have been in Metz.
 
In the doubles event the British pairing of Colin Fleming and Ken Skupski crowned a spectacular week by taking the doubles title. In the final they came from a set down to beat two-time defending champions and 2007 Wimbledon winners Michael Llodra and Arnaud Clement.  It was a first final on tour for the Brits who achieved a big upset at the AEGON Championships in June by beating the Bryan Brothers.
 
- Metz marked the first time that Fleming and Skupski have been direct entrants into an ATP World Tour doubles tournament.

At the ATP World Tour 250 event on the clay courts of Bucharest in Romania Spaniard Albert Montanes overcame third seed Juan Monaco 7-6(7-2) 7-6(8-6) in the final.  Argentinean Monaco lead 5-2 in the second set and had a number of chances to push the match to a decider before 28 year-old Montanes fought back.  It was a second tour title of the year for Montanes who won in Estoril in May and a third tournament victory of his career.
 
- Montanes becomes the third Spanish player to win at least two ATP World tour titles in 2009 after Rafael Nadal and Tommy Robredo.
 
Bucharest also saw the retirement of one Romania's finest players as Andrei Pavel ended his fourteen year professional career.  In his final singles match the 35 year-old fell to eighth seeded Pablo Cuevas 3-6 6-7 (2-7) in the first round.  Pavel achieved a career high ranking of 18 in 2007 and won three tour singles titles and six doubles titles. The Father of two was made captain of the Romanian Davis Cup team earlier this year having played 62 matches for the team during his career.
 
- Pavel's career highlight was winning the Masters 1000 title at the 2001 Rogers Cup in Montreal, with victories over Andy Roddick, Tommy Haas and Patrick Rafter.
 

ITF/ Challenger Circuit

 
At the $75k event in Shrewsbury, the biggest ITF tournament held in the UK, Elena Baltacha overcame Katie O'Brien 6-3 4-6 6-3 in a competitive all-British final.  It gave 26 year-old Baltacha a second ITF title of the year and her second title at $75k level after winning Torhout in Belgium in 2008. Significantly both players gained enough points to break into the top 100 for the first time.

- It was only the second time Baltacha and O'Brien have played.  The first meeting in Sunderland in 2005 ended in a 6-4 6-3 win for Baltacha.
 
It was an impressive week for both players. Fifth seeded Baltacha beat top 100 ranked players Kristina Barrois and Kirsten Flipkens to reach the final, gaining revenge for her loss to the Belgian at Wimbledon. Seeded sixth O'Brien edged out fourth seeded Angelique Kerber 3-6 6-3 7-6 (7-5) in the quarter finals and did not drop a set in her other matches en route to the final.
 
- 23 year-old O'Brien has reached five ITF finals in 2009 - winning two - it was her first final at a $75k event.
 
An impressive total of 12 British players competed in the main draw in Shrewsbury with British number four Mel South also reaching the quarter finals where she fell to Flipkens. Anna Smith reached the doubles final with partner Johanna Larsson of Sweden.
 
At the $50k tournament in Sagueney, Canada newly crowned US Open Junior Champion Heather Watson extended second seeded Valerie Tetreault in an epic first round match before narrowly going down 7-5 6-7(5) 5-7. The Canadian is ranked over 600 places higher than the 17 year-old Brit.
 
Top seeds Jamie Murray and Jamie Delgado dropped just one set in winning the doubles title at the Ljubljana challenger in Slovenia. For Murray it was a third challenger title of the year having won with Delgado in Trani, Italy and with Jonny Marray in Alphen aan den Rijn in the Netherlands.
 

Return of Justine Henin

The week was marked by the significant news that former world number one Justine Henin will return to competitive tennis in 2010.  The Belgian announced the news in a press conference in Belgium on 23rd September, sixteen months after retiring in May 2008.
 
- Henin has won 7 Grand Slam Singles titles - 2004 Australian Open, Roland Garros 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, US Open 2003, 2007.
 
The 27 year-old stated that her main goal is to capture the elusive Wimbledon title - the only major title missing from her collection - and admitted that the recent spectacular return of compatriot Kim Clijsters may have spurred her on to return. She is hoping to compete at the Australian Open in January.
 
- When Henin retired she became the first player ever to retire when ranked number 1. She has held the top spot for 117 non-consecutive weeks.

Next week on Tour

Nine of the WTA top 10 will be action at the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo with only Serena Williams missing through injury.
 
The ATP World Tour moves to Asia with tournaments in Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur.
 

Movers and Shakers

 
There are no changes in either top 10 this week.  Dinara Safina moves into her 24th week at the top spot.
 
Roger Federer is now in his 250th non-consecutive week as the men's number one ranked player.  This is the fourth longest of all time and the Swiss is now in sight of the totals held by Jimmy Connors and Ivan Lendl.
 

Number 1 ranked players on ATP tour

   
In the WTA rankings both Baltacha and O'Brien make their deserved top 100 debuts at 93 and 98 respectively. Along with injured British number one Anne Keothavong it means there are now three British women in the elite top 100.
 
The last time the top three British women were so highly ranked in was 1990 when Jo Durie, Sarah Loosemore and Sara Gomer all finished the year in the top 100.
 
There are now nine British players ranked inside the top 100 across singles and doubles. Colin Fleming has broken into the doubles top 100 at 79 joining Ross Hutchins and Skupski and Jamie Murray rejoins the elite at 97 after his win at Ljubljana.  Sarah Borwell and Andy Murray complete the list in womens doubles and mens singles.
 
After her win in Seoul, Date Krumm moves from 155 to 100 to become the oldest player in the top 100 since Martina Navratilova retired from full time singles in 1994. Peer has moved up from 57 to 34 after her back-to-back tournament victories in Ghangzhou and Tashkent.
 

ATP rankings 28/09/2009

Top 10

• 1. Roger Federer (SUI)
• 2. Rafael Nadal (ESP)
• 3. Andy Murray (GB)
• 4. Novak Djokovic (SER)
• 5. Juan Martin Del Potro (ARG)
• 6. Andy Roddick (US)
• 7. Jo-Wilfred Tsonga (FRA)
• 8. Nikolay Davydenko (RUS)
• 9. Fernando Verdasco (ESP)
• 10. Gilles Simon (FRA)

Top Brits

• 3.      Andy Murray
• 187. James Ward
• 253. Alex Bogdanovic
• 246. Josh Goodall
•  309. Dan Evans
   

WTA rankings 28/09/2009

 Top 10

• 1. Dinara Safina (RUS)
• 2. Serena Williams (US)
• 3. Venus Williams (US)
• 4. Elena Dementieva (RUS)
• 5. Caroline Wozniacki (DEN)
• 6. Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS)
• 7. Vera Zvonareva (RUS)
• 8. Jelena Jankovic (SER)
• 9. Victoria Azarenka (BLR)
• 10. Flavia Pennetta (ITA)

Top Brits 

• 77.   Anne Keothavong
• 93.   Elena Baltacha
• 98.   Katie O'Brien
• 143. Mel South
• 211. Georgie Stoop

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• Week of upsets sees titles for Baghdatis, Youzhny, Schiavone and Bacsinszky
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• Asian success for Djokovic, Kuznetsova and Tsonga
• Davydenko and Simon claim titles as race to London heats up
• US Open Review
• US Open Week One
• Querrey & Dementieva clinch US Open Series
• Fed moves up a gear ahead of US Open
• Magnificent Murray reaches No.2
• Hard court season in full swing as Roddick joins 500 club
• Injury, revenge, first-time winners and British success
• Fed sets new records