High Noon at AEGON International finale

Written by: Staff on 18th June 2010

High Noon at AEGON International finale |

Victoria Azarenka will be bidding for her first AEGON International title when she takes on qualifier Ekaterina Makarova in Saturday’s women’s final, starting at noon at Devonshire Park. To cap off what promises to be a thrilling finale at Eastbourne, swashbuckling Frenchman Michael Llodra will take on Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the men’s final.

Makarova is the first qualifier to reach the final since another Russian, Vera Duchevina, put together a similar run at Eastbourne in 2005.

As well as winning three matches in qualifying, Makarova has been on a giant-killing tear in the main draw. Friday saw her follow up her win over two-time grand slam champion Svetlana Kuznetsova with a gritty 7-6 (7-5) 7-5 victory over World No.7 and recent French Open finalist Samantha Stosur of Australia.

“When you play good tennis and you are winning all the time, it’s not hard to recover – you just want to play the next match and the next match,” said Makarova.

Azarenka was too strong for former Wimbledon runner-up Marion Bartoli, beating the Frenchwoman 6-3 7-5. “I think I was serving really well today,” said the Belarusian. “I was putting a lot of pressure on her but I think that was the biggest key today.”

Llodra, who is taking coaching advice from former Wimbledon champion Amelie Mauresmo during the grass court season, put on a typically attacking performance to beat Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine 6-3 7-5. “I like the grass, I think it’s my favourite surface,” said Llodra, 30. “You have to stay focused and I knew that if I played first point to the last then I’d have a good chance of winning.”

Garcia-Lopez outlasted Uzbekistani Denis Istomin in a thrilling climax to Friday’s play when he their semi-final 3-6 6-3 6-4.

There was no shortage of excitement in the doubles either. Polish pair of Marius Frystenberg and Marcin Matkowski edging past Great Britain’s dynamic duo of Colin Fleming and Ken Skupski in a match tiebreaker 6-3 5-7 10-8.

“It was a tight match. There were a few points here and there,” said Skupski, who could be back in Eastbourne alongside Fleming in a few weeks’ time as part of the Great Britain team that will take on Turkey at Devonshire Park July 9 – 11.

“It’s still been a really good week and we’ve now had three really good weeks on grass so it’s the perfect preparation for Wimbledon.”

Accomplished duo Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs will take on French Open runners-up Katerina Srebotnik and Kveta Peschke in a high-quality women’s doubles final on Saturday. em all, the way everyone on of them’s competed today. The quality of the tennis has been just outstanding, the whole event has been brilliant, the team spirit has been really good.”

Fellow co-captain Iain Bates continued: “I think the big positive from today was the way the girls responded when they were in tight situations. What we’ve seen from the girls over the last two days has been a great spirit, a good togetherness, and it’s great to be involved with this group of girls, who can hopefully do some good things in years to come. It’s exciting, and a testament to their efforts over the past two days that we’re in the position we are going into tomorrow.”

The USA meanwhile remain positive about their chances. “We’re feeling a lot better than yesterday,” said coach Sarah Taylor. “There were some great matches and the girls were competitive. The matches were really hard and we’re happy with the progress the girls made on the grass in just one day. Yesterday they were a little tentative but they really went after it today. Credit to the Great Britain team today, it was a great day of competition.”

“I have a lot of belief in my team,” said Van Nguyen. “We’re all really good doubles players and I hope we can get a good result on Saturday.”

The two remaining rubbers begin at 11am on Saturday. Katy Dunne and Moore face Stephens and Min, while Dean and Brown take on Goldfeld and Van Nguyen.

Topics: Aegon, Amelie Mauresmo, Colin Fleming, Denis Istomin, Devonshire Park, Dynamic Duo, Ekaterina Makarova, Final 3, Grand Slam Champion, Grass Court, Guillermo Garcia Lopez, International Finale, Ken Skupski, Marcin Matkowski, Marion Bartoli, Michael Llodra, Samantha Stosur, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Victoria Azarenka, Wimbledon Champion