The runner-up in last year’s tournament, the 27-year-old Italian Flavia Pennetta won her second title of the year at the LA Tournament after beating the Australian Samantha Stosur in straight sets 6-4, 6-3. The match was held on Sunday at the Home Depot Center in Los Angeles and lasted an hour and 21 minutes.
This victory meant the 8th career title for the Italian and marked one of the greatest triumphs of her professional career. The $107,000 prize was no meager earnings for Pennetta, who called the victory her “biggest win ever.”
Before meeting in the LA Championship finals, both finalists had to surpass great players; Pennetta defeated Maria Sharapova as well as world number 7 Vera Zvonareva while Stosur overcame Sorana Cirstea 6-3, 6-2.
Once engaged in the final, both Pennetta and Stosur began with aggressive play. However, in the first set in the seventh game, the Italian was able to break Stosur’s serve; at the same time, Stosur served one of her eight double faults to offer three break point chances at 0-40. Pennetta was able to take advantage of the errors, winning the set 6-4.
In the second set, Pannetta lost her serve, making it 3-3 in the second game. However, the Italian came back, breaking Stosur’s serve on three occasions and winning the following three games to seal the match with a 6-3 victory in the second set.
During the game Stosur connected just 52 percent of her first serves, adding 32 unforced errors and 19 winners, whereas Pennetta had a great serve, making only16 unforced errors and 18 winners.
At the end of the game, Pennetta expressed her happiness at attaining the title of the L.A tourney after being the runner-up last year. She also said that during the final she had tried to be aggressive and serve well.
“I don't know what to say. I never won a tournament like this one ... so I'm really happy. I think my serve was very good today. Almost all week it helped me a lot in the important points. When I was aggressive I won the points today. That was a big step for me to improve my game. I've played a few finals before. I was ready to play the final today," said the Italian.
Before obtaining this title, Pennetta won the tournament in Palermo where she defeated Sara Errani 6-1, 6-2 in the final. With these two titles in the 2009 season, the Italian rose two spots to No. 12 in the rankings this week, one spot closer to her career high of 11th place.
On the other hand, Stosur said that despite losing this final at L.A, she felt that she played well over the week and hopes to win a title soon. In her professional career, the Australian has been in five single finals but hasn’t won any titles.
With the U.S Open is approaching both players are growing in confidence and hope to have a great performance in the following tournaments and in the final Grand Slam of the year.