Schaul Upsets Davenport for Strasbourg Title
May 22, 2004
Schaul Upsets Davenport for Strasbourg Title
STRASBOURG, France - Claudine Schaul of Luxembourg picked up the biggest win of
her career on Saturday, upsetting world No.4 Lindsay Davenport, 26 60 63 to
win her first WTA Tour singles title at the Internationaux de Strasbourg.
In only her second career match with a top 10 player, Schaul rallied back
after dropping the first set to quickly turn the match around in the second.
The 20-year-old capped off her impressive week by finishing off the No.1 seed
in the final set, allowing her strong forehand to help guide her to the title.
"It's a dream to win a WTA tournament," Schaul said. "I was very nervous at
the beginning, but then tried to forget that I was playing the final. My
tactic worked well. I treid to attack a lot and to get her moving. She was
not playing her best level. I was so emotional at match point that I double
faulted several times and lost that game."
The best week of Schaul's career included wins against four of the
tournament's eight seeded players. After defeating Arantxa Parra Santonja in
the first round, Schaul followed with victories against No. 5 seed Tina Pisnik,
No.2 Ai Sugiyama, No.4 Emilie Loit and then the top seed Davenport.
The victory against Davenport was her first against a top 10 player. Schaul
lost her only other encounter with a player in the Top 10, falling to No.2
Kim Clijsters in straight sets in Luxembourg last year. Schaul, who began the
week ranked No.66, will move into the top 50 for the first time.
"At the beginning of the year, my objective was to play the Olympic Games and
now I know I'm in," said Schaul, about her improved ranking following her
first title.
Davenport, who opened the clay court season by winning her 40th career title
at the Bausch & Lomb Championships in Amelia Island, was unable to continue
the impressive form that got her into the final. The tournament's top seed
scored a straight sets victory against Marion Bartoli in her second round
match and then blew past Katarina Srebotnik (60 61) and No.3 seed Silvia
Farina Elia (62 60) to reach her third final of the year.
"The conditions were tough today, there was a lot of wind," Davenport said.
"I did not hit the ball like I should have. I made a lot of double faults and
when I miss a lot of serves I tend to lose my rhythm. Clay is definitely not
my favorite surface, but in general it's a good week for me, although I would
have prefered to finish the week with a win.
"All my congrats to Claudine, she definitely was the better player today and
she has a wicked forehand."
Davenport, who was making her 73rd appearance in a WTA Tour singles final,
falls to 40-33 in championship matches and 2-1 on the year. She had won
titles in Tokyo [Pan Pacific] and Amelia Island. The American now sports a
25-4 record in 2004 and enters Roland Garros with a 10-2 mark on clay.
In doubles, the No.4 seeded tandem of Lisa McShea and Milagros Sequera won
their second title of the year by defeating the Slovenian No.3 seeded team of
Tina Krizan and Katarina Srebotnik. It was the second clay court title of the
year for McShea and Sequera, who won the Acapulco title earlier this year in
their first appearance as a team.
McShea has now while three career doubles titles and Sequera has two.
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