THE TOURNAMENT
Barcelona KIA’07
The first round of Barcelona KIA 2007 opened with an impressive win from Laura Pous, who took advantage of the wild card awarded to her by the organization and proceeded to the final eight following her win over Kloesel. Another surprise was the performance from Agnes Szavay who showed the signs of the quality that have helped her rise to her current world ranking of 17. The Hungarian won in the first round against Poutchek, and in the second, with a overwhelming 6-1 6-1 victory against Fransesca Schiavone.
Both Pous and Szavay saw how Meghann Shaughnessy crossed their paths through the draw. The American, who won in the first round against Mallorcan, Núria Llagostera, got past Pous and Szavay successively in the eights and quarters without conceding a single set.
Also from the top of the draw Emilie Loit y Flavia Pennetta, third and eighth seeds respectively, overcame their initial hurdles without problem to meet each other in the quarter finals. There Pennetta turned on her best tennis and won by 6-3 6-3 in order to make it into the semis where she would face Shaughnessy. Together they would play in, what would turn out to be possibly one of the best games of Barcelona KIA 2007. The overwhelming control of Shaughnessy in the initial set put the match in her favour. The Italian managed to pull herself together in the second to make it to the third set. Things looked even until the north American, with her greater stamina overcame and stepped into the final, winning by 6-0, 4-6, and 6-4.
Meanwhile from the bottom of the draw, the first surprise was the Kudryavtseva’s victory over Martina Müller, the only of the top eight seeds to be eliminated in the first round. Without a completely convincing earlier performance, and after losing the first set of her debut with Virginia Ruano, the Romanian, Edina Gallovits opened with an aggressive and inspiring game. After a recovery against Ruano, Gallovits won without losing a single set to Lourdes Domínguez (fifth seed), Kaia Kanepi (fourth seed) and, already in the semifinals, to Virginie Razzano (seventh seed)
Having lost only a set each throughout the entire tournament, Gallovits and Shaughnessy faced each other in the final of Barcelona KIA’ 2007. The Romanian however, was not able to maintain the level of her previous rounds. Shaughnessy took control of the game from the outset and maintained it until the final despite her rival’s efforts to respond. The American overcame by 6-3 and 6-2 and ensured her place in the list of winners of Barcelona KIA.
Spanish victory in the doubles
Spanish prominence at Barcelona KIA 2007 was concentrated on the doubles competition. In the quarter finals there were six Spanish players; in the semi-finals four; and in the final three. Llagostera and Parra Santonja reached the final after beating Conchita Martínez Granados and Alina Jidkova in the semi-finals. From the lower part of the drawer the semi-finals were competed for by the doubles round two winners, formed by Pennetta and Domínguez Lino, and the number three, comprised of Müller and Navratilova. The Italian-Spanish pair completely dominated and ensured their place in the final by winning 6-1 y 6-2.
The decisive game proved to be much more evenly contested than that of the singles final. Llagostera and Parra, after a long contest that could have gone either way, were eventually victorious, winning by 7-6 (3), 2-6 and 12-10 in the decisive tie-break match.
This game was the icing on the cake for the tournament, and started the countdown to Barcelona KIA 2008, which promises to be more attractive and spectacular than ever.