CITI OPEN
Washington DC, USA
July 29-August 4, 2012
$220,000/International
Hard/Outdoors
Results – Saturday, August 4, 2012
Singles – Final
Magdalena Rybarikova (SVK) d. (1) Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS) 61 61
Doubles – Final
Aoyama/Chang (JPN/TPE) vs. Falconi/Scheepers (USA/RSA) 75 62
Final Facts
– Rybarikova wins her third WTA title, her first two coming at 2009 Birmingham (on grass) and 2011 Memphis (on indoor hardcourts); she is now 3-1 in WTA finals.
– Rybarikova beat the Top 3 seeds en route to the title (No.2 seed Scheepers first round, No.3 seed Stephens in the semifinals, No.1 seed Pavlyuchenkova in the final).
– Rybarikova didn’t lose a set all week.
– Pavlyuchenkova is now 3-1 in WTA finals (she was 3-0 going into this one).
– Aoyama and Chang win their first WTA doubles title together; Chang wins her third WTA doubles title while Aoyama wins her first WTA title of any kind.
Final Quotes
Magdalena Rybarikova: “I was just thinking all the time to stay relaxed and play my game, and I think I played very well today. I was trying not to think about this being a final, and I was also trying not to think about playing such a good player. I was very relaxed – if I’m not relaxed, it’s tough to play my game.
“My confidence was lower when I came here and I didn’t expect I’d win the title, but I was very relaxed when I came here and I played very well all week.
“With the time difference it has been tough to watch the Olympics, but I watched a bit of Serena today. It’s amazing how she played this week. It’s not possible how she was playing. I was thinking it’s not possible to win a final 60 61. She’s amazing. I also watched some Slovak athletes in other sports. I was mostly reading about everything in the news. I love the Olympics and was sad I couldn’t play – but if I was there I couldn’t be here, so something bad for something good.”
Chang Kai-Chen: “I’m so happy we won here in the first time we’ve played together. I hope Shuko and I can play more in the future. I’ve had wonderful memories from my first experience in Washington and I hope to be back next year.”