Patty Schnyder couldn’t take the last stage to the title at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston. Another three set battle in the heat on the court was too much for the Swiss who lost in the final against the second seeded Nadia Petrova 3-6 6-4 1-6.

The Russian, who captured the fourth singles title in her career, won the second consecutive tournament on the green clay after Amelia Island last week.

“I must say I can’t believe myself I’ve done it”, said the 23-year old Petrova, who was in trouble during the second set. “I was really feeling bad today, I think it was the heat. In the second set I had difficulties to move on court.”

In the first set Petrova broke the number three seed Swiss to a 2-1 lead and at 5-3 she broke her again to the win of the set. In the second set Patty broke her opponent in the opening game. The Russian got now problems with the heat and took a timeout. After that she failed two break chances and the Swiss won the second set 6-4. The decisive third set started after a 10-minute break in play due to the heat. Now it was the Russian who better got along with the conditions. She broke the Swiss early to a 3-0 lead. Now Patty hadn’t the power to come back and after another break to 5-1 it was over for the Swiss. With her sixth matchpoint finally Petrova finished the match.

“I feel my game is taking a new level”, said the new Champion from Russia, who will now continue her success at the european clay-courts. “I’m really looking forward to the red clay”.

“I could feel the heat but I could run and I would have been ready to go for one more hour or have tough rallies in a row,” commentated the disappointed Swiss. “But I missed too many balls and I could not handle the pressure because her strokes are so powerful and very deep.”

After 2002 against Craoatia’s Iva Majoli, the Swiss lost for the second time a final in Charleston. Even though, the Family Circle Cup is one of Pattys favourite tournaments. This year she played there for the tenth consecutive time and she said she really like this place. “I feel at home here, I wish we could play more weeks here. They make me feel at home, and it’s few weeks where you really feel that support, and I’m proud of it.” After a break of two weeks Patty will make her start in the european clay-court season at the J & S Cup in Warsaw, which starts on May 1.

Nadia Petrova of Russia won her second consecutive WTA Tour title at Charleston’s Family Circle Cup. Petrova defeated Patty Schnyder of Switzerland in three sets, 6-3, 4-6, 6-1. Petrova, who also won Amelia Island and Doha this season, was bothered by the heat on centre court during the match, but could fight off the Swiss southpaw in the third set. “At one stage in the match, I wasn’t really sure if I was able to finish it,” the new champion said.

Schnyder, who held off defending champion Justine Henin-Hardenne in her previous match, saw a chance to take the second set when Petrova lost a service game in the second set. The Russian also needed treatment due to the heat.

Petrova first thought she might have to retire,but she was feeling better after the trainer came on court to gave her a massage, rubbing her with ice and made her drink more water.

“There were a lot of things that went through my mind at that stage, and it was extremely difficult for me. I knew I had a good chance. I needed to win one more set, and I could have actually retired at any time, but I just didn’t want to give up.”

“No matter what happens out there, how badly I play or how badly I feel, I still could find the strength in me and win it,” Petrova said. “I will remember it forever, of course, and when I have a difficult time on court again, I will probably remember this final.”

Patty Schnyder was not having trouble with the weather conditions at all but had other problems on her mind. “I was never really feeling my game. My serve was not really there,” the Swiss said, who played her last final at the Family Circle Cup in 2002, losing it to Iva Majoli.

“From the start, I was like feeling my concentration was not on. I always had to tell myself to watch the ball and then really focus. That is what takes a lot of energy,” Schnyder added.

Petrova, who won her first Tier I tournament at Charleston, said she feels her game has progressed to another level. After changing her long time coach Glen Schaap for Alexsande Mityaev, Petrova seems to have made great progress in finishing her matches.

After winning the Family Circle Cup final, Petrova will move up to No.5 in the ranking, her highest career result so far. She reached a previous career high being of No.6.

Patty Schnyder reached the final at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston with an impressive three set win over the top-seeded Belgian Justine Henin-Hardenne. It was the first win for Patty over the Belgian in the seventh match against her.

Henin-Hardenne, who held a 14-0 winning record in Charleston, started well in the match and broke the Swiss already in the first game. The defending champion from Belgium was the dominating player and won the first set deserved. In the second set Henin-Hardenne got some trouble with her serve due the windy conditions. Now she just made 30 percent of her first serve in play and the Swiss got more and more the control over the match. ” I had control of the match in the first set. I was playing pretty well and then I lost a bit of my concentration for a few games”, Henin-Hardenne said. “Then the match turned completely and she was having control of the points”.

After the lost second set the heat on the court affected the Belgian physically. Henin-Hardenne still won the first game in the decisiving third set but then the Swiss won four straight games to a 4-1 lead. After that Henin-Hardenne hadn’t power enough to fight back and the Swiss was on the road to the win. “This is huge”, Patty said after the match. “I’ve never beaten her, and I think she is the greatest clay-court player there is at the moment, and I think she’s one of the greatest champions that we have in the past years, and it’s just amazing how I could come back and win it at the end”.

” It’s always disappointing to lose…but that’s tennis”, the Belgian commentated. ” That’s life. You have to keep going”.

Patty will now play her 19th final in a WTA tournament. It will be the second final in Charleston for the Swiss. In 2002 she was the runner up to Croatia’s Iva Majoli.

The this years final opponent of the Swiss, who won 10 singles titles at the WTA tour so far, will be the second seeded Nadia Petrova. The Russian, who won three titles so far, is currently playing in great form, she won the last weeks clay-court tournament in Amelia Island. Patty met her eight times so far, the Swiss leads in the head-to head 5-3. The last two matches between them were in the end of the last year. Petrova won her first singles title in the final of the tournament in Linz against the Swiss. Two weeks later Patty took revenge at the WTA Tourchampionships in Los Angeles.

Justine Henin-Hardenne’s 14-match winning streak at the Family Circle Cup came to an end when Patty Schnyder beat her in the semifinals, which lasted 1 hour and 46 minutes, 6-2, 3-6, 2-6. Justine had 31 unforced errors compared with Patty’s 29.

Having a higher percentage of first serve did not help Justine win the match against Patty Schnyder, who aced her 6 times. Justine had an unforced error of 31, two more than Patty’s 29 unforced errors.

Justine made a rousing start, winning the first set in just 29 minutes at 6-2. Then, in the second set, the heat bothered Justine physically, affecting her concentration. Justine, at one point, was up 1-0. Patty then recovered and dictated the points, hitting the ball where Justine could not reach. Justine eventually lost the second set, 3-6, and the deciding set 2-6.Justine Henin-Hardenne’s loss to Patty Schnyder was her first ever loss in 7 meetings.

Justine, though, was philosophical about the loss and the end of her winning streak here. “It’s always disappointing to lose … but that’s tennis,” she said. “That’s life. You have to keep going.”

Justine Henin-Hardenne advanced to the semifinals of the Family Circle Cup by downing seventh-seeded Dinara Safina 6-4,6-1. With the win, Justine is now 3-0 versus Dinara in career head-to-heads.

Having a low first serve percentage of only 59 % compared to that of Dinara Safina’s 81% did not stop Justine from advancing into the semi finals where will be facing Swiss Patty Schnyder who in the other quarterfinal match dispatched of French Natalie Dechy. 6-0,6-3

The first set was some sort of a warm up for Justine, as her tall opponent hit the ball pretty hard and long. Justine has to find some answers to Dinara’s blistering shots. True enough, as the games went on, Justine’s game got better and better, finishing the first set in 41 minutes at 6-4

Justine’s newly found rhythm in the later part of the first set carried her into a lop-sided victory in the second set at 6-1, in just 30 minutes.

Asked of what she thinks of her next opponent whom she did not know yet she said : “They still have to play tonight, so it’s going to be anyway a tough match. Semi is always tough. It means that all the players are playing very good tennis, and I’ve played both of them(Patty and Natalie) pretty often. So we’ll see. I think it’s going to be interesting and a tough
match for sure”.