STUTTGART, Germany - Going into the semifinals she had dropped her last eight matches against fellow Top 10 players - but she overcame. She had lost 10 of her last 11 finals and was up against a player she had lost to four times in a row - she overcame that, too. Svetlana Kuznetsova pulled off a remarkable return to the winner's circle at the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix.
Kuznetsova, ranked No.9 in the world - down from her career-high of No.2, which she held not much longer than a year ago - barely made it out of the early rounds this past week. Seeded No.5, she was pushed to three sets by qualifier Andrea Petkovic in the first round and was a game away from losing to China's Li Na in the second round, winning that one, 46 64 75.
From the quarterfinals and on, Kuznetsova's game clicked. She dispatched Gisela Dulko handily, 63 62, after the Argentine had taken out No.4-seeded Victoria Azarenka the round before. She put a stop to her losing streak against Top 10 players with a 64 62 drubbing of No.2 seed Elena Dementieva in the semifinals, then recorded a similar 64 63 win over world No.1 and top seed Dinara Safina - against whom she had lost four in a row - in Sunday's final.
Kuznetsova won her first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour singles title since taking New Haven in the summer of 2007, over 20 months ago.
"It has been a while," the Russian said. "At the beginning today I was a little bit nervous. It's tough for me to play finals - I haven't won too many of them lately. But I started playing better and better as the match went on and I was able to win. I want to thank everybody for their support. It's a great thing to be here."
Kuznetsova had lost 10 of her last 11 singles finals. Through the end of 2006 she was 8-7 in finals but she came to Stuttgart 9-17; the one title, at New Haven in August 2007, was also obtained when her opponent in the final, Agnes Szavay, won the first set but retired midway through the second set due to a back injury.
It was also Kuznetsova's fifth career win over a reigning world No.1, having done it twice against Justine Henin and twice against Amélie Mauresmo.
Safina, playing her first tournament as the top-ranked player in the world after ascending to the No.1 spot on April 20, was in her third final of the year, having finished runner-up in her first two tournaments at Sydney (to Elena Dementieva) and the Australian Open (to Serena Williams). She is now 9-10 in finals.
"I just wasn't feeling that good on court today," Safina said. "Svetlana put me under pressure right from the start and played really well. She deserved to win. All in all it has been a good week. Compared to my other appearances here, it was a big improvement. At least I was in the final. It's a shame I couldn't win but I'll be back next year and hopefully I'll make the next step."
In the semifinals, Safina rallied from 63 31 down to end the surprise run of Flavia Pennetta, 36 75 60. Pennetta, unseeded, had upset two seeds - Nadia Petrova and Jelena Jankovic - en route to the final four, her first time to beat two Top 10 players at the same tournament. She was also a game away from beating the world No.1, leading Safina later in their match, 63 54.
The doubles title went to Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Petrova, who took their second straight Premier title with a 57 63 107 match tie-break win over Gisela Dulko and Flavia Pennetta in the final. The American now has six Tour doubles titles to her name while the Russian has an impressive 17 in her career.
See photos in the Photo Gallery presented by Dubai Duty Free.
