DUBAI DUTY FREE TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS – Dubai tennis updates

Written by: Staff on 25th February 2012

DUBAI DUTY FREE TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS - Dubai tennis updates

Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland during her third round match against Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan at the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 20 January 2012. EPA/BARBARA WALTON |

DUBAI DUTY FREE TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS

Dubai, UAE

February 20-25, 2012

$2,000,000/Premier

Hard/Outdoors

Results – Saturday, February 25, 2012

Singles – Final

(5) Agnieszka Radwanska (POL) d. Julia Goerges (GER) 75 64

Doubles – Final

(1) Huber/Raymond (USA/USA) d. (2) Mirza/Vesnina (IND/RUS) 62 61

Final Facts

– Radwanska wins her eighth WTA title and her fifth at the Premier level. She is now 8-2 in her career in finals.

– Radwanska was 5-3 down in the third set of her first round win over Aleksandra Wozniak before rallying.

– Radwanska is projected to rise to a career-high of No.5 on the new rankings.

– Radwanska was also victorious in her only previous match-up with Goerges, dropping just two games in the fourth round of this year’s Australian Open.

– Goerges falls to 2-2 in her career in finals.

– Goerges is projected to match her career-high of No.16 on the new rankings.

– Goerges had wins over Svetlana Kuznetsova, Daniela Hantuchova and No.3 seed Caroline Wozniacki en route to the final.

– Huber and Raymond win their third Premier title in as many weeks, having captured Paris and Doha earlier this month.

– Huber and Raymond now have seven titles as a duo and have won 28 of their last 31 matches dating back to the start of last year’s US Open.

– Huber now has 51 doubles titles to her name and Raymond 77, breaking a tie with Jana Novotna for sixth-most of the Open Era.

– Mirza and Vesnina fall to 2-2 in finals together and 3-1 in their series with Huber and Raymond.

Final Quotes

Agnieszka Radwanska: “I was pretty close to losing in the first round, so I’m extremely happy right now. Tonight I think I was just better in a couple points, to be honest. In the important moments I was more consistent. The conditions were a little bit difficult during the match, but I stayed calm until the end.

“I’m going to keep playing my game and try to keep up my good tennis, especially in big events like this. I just want to enjoy my tennis and try winning matches.”

Julia Goerges: “I’m not disappointed. It was a big step in the right direction for me. I was leaving everything on the court and she’s a Top 5 player now. If you lose 5 and 4 in one hour 40, you shouldn’t be disappointed. It gives me a lot of confidence to see I’m close to those players and can beat them. It was about two or three points in the end. I’m very proud of this week.”

Liezel Huber: “There wasn’t anything in those three times we lost to them that was the same as today. Today was on hardcourt, a faster surface, and short format. If they were going to take it from us today, then take it from us. But it was a new day out here in Dubai, and fortunately we stuck to our game plan and it panned out in the end.”

Lisa Raymond: “We had our game plan and took a couple things away from them. It worked well and we stayed on ‘em. Liezel served out a great game in the end with an ace. It feels good to beat them that decisively.”