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France’s Rezaï wins WTA Båstad title over Dulko

Rising French star Aravane Rezaï won her fourth WTA title on Saturday at the Collector Swedish Open Women in Båstad in southern Sweden on the west coast, beating Gisela Dulko.

Published: 11 July 2010 09:10 CEST

France's Rezaï wins WTA Båstad title over Dulko

Photo: Björn Larsson Rosvall/Scanpix

It was the second title this season for Rezaï, ranked 19th in the world. Earlier this season, she stole the show at the prestigious Madrid tournament, defeating US star Venus Williams.

Seeded second here, Rezaï did not have it all her own way against fourth-seeded Dulko, who had beaten her in both of their previous encounters, before winning 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.

Rezaï started strongly, leading 6-3, 3-2 and holding two points for 4-2 before Dulko bounced back, winning four of the next five games to take the second set. The momentum swung towards Rezaï in the third set as she cruised to a 4-0 lead in the final set.

Just when it seemed she had the upper hand, Rezaï lost her service to love and a string of unforced errors allowed Dulko come back to 4-3. However, Dulko double faulted, giving Rezaï 5-3 and a double match point.

The Argentine saved both, the first when her opponent double faulted and then with a powerful return of serve, to make it 5-4. Rezaï made no mistake on her third match point, breaking Dulko’s serve to take her fourth career title, following wins at Strasbourg and Bali last year and Madrid this season.

Dulko bounced back to defend her doubles title with Italy’s Flavia Pennetta, winning 7–6 (0), 6–0 against the Czech Republic’s Renata Voráčová and Barbora Záhlavová-Strýcová.

After the tournament wrapped up, the SkiStar Swedish Open (Swedish Open Båstad) for men on the ATP Tour opened on Saturday. Båstad is best known for the tennis tournament, held each summer since 1948.

The city has has the most tennis courts in the country and has fostered many internationally successful tennis players. The town attracts some 20,000 visitors during this time. Meanwhile, the women’s tournament moved to Båstad from Stockholm last year.

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Is this the end of the road for Swiss tennis legend Roger Federer?

Is it the end of the line for Roger? Photo: Martin BUREAU / AFP

The 20-time Grand Slam winner announced on Wednesday that he would be sidelined until 2021 after his second operation in a matter of months.

Federer remains upbeat, tweeting: “I plan to take the necessary time to be 100 percent ready to play at my highest level.”

In some ways 2020 is a good season to miss after the coronavirus ravaged the tennis schedule. Writing Federer off in the past has proved dangerous.

He returned from a six-month injury lay-off to claim the Australian Open in 2017, winning his eighth Wimbledon crown later that year.

But he will be 40 in 2021 and is now heading into uncharted territory.

Despite his groaning trophy cabinet, there are two factors that will motivate Federer to keep going — the risk of losing his grip on the men's Grand Slam title record and a missing Olympics singles gold medal.

Rafael Nadal has 19 majors, just one shy of Federer's mark and Djokovic has 17.

Spain's Nadal will be fancied to draw level with Federer at the French Open, rescheduled for September, while few would bet against Djokovic winning in New York weeks earlier.

In April, Federer said he was “devastated” when Wimbledon was cancelled for the first time since World War II. Last year he fell agonisingly short at the All England Club, failing to convert two championship points on his own serve against Djokovic.

The Wimbledon grass probably remains his best chance of adding to his Grand Slam collection — he has not won the US Open since 2008 and his only title at Roland Garros came in 2009.

Even though Federer has slipped from the very pinnacle of the game, he is still a major threat to Nadal and Djokovic.

'Golden' ambitions

Last year, the world number four had a 53-10 win-loss record and he reached the semi-finals at the Australian Open in January in his only tournament this year.

Federer, who is still six ATP titles short of Jimmy Connors' all-time record of 109, has one glaring omission from his CV — the Olympic title.

The Swiss won doubles gold in Beijing in 2008 with compatriot Stan Wawrinka but lost in the singles final to Andy Murray in London four years later.

The postponed Tokyo Games will almost certainly be Federer's last opportunity to complete a career “golden” Grand Slam — he will turn 40 on the day of the closing ceremony next year.

Tennis will feel the loss of the elegant Federer keenly when he walks off the court for the last time.

Djokovic and Nadal have been the dominant forces in recent years but the Swiss remains the biggest draw and last month topped Forbes' list of the world's highest-earning athletes.

His last appearance on court was in front of nearly 52,000 fans — touted by organisers as a world record for tennis — at a charity match against Nadal in Cape Town in February.

Federer is nearly always the crowd favourite wherever he plays and has proved a perfect ambassador for the sport since he won his first Grand Slam title in 2003.

He certainly expects to be back and competitive next year.

“I will be missing my fans and the tour dearly but I will look forward to seeing everyone back on tour at the start of the 2021 season,” he tweeted.

The avalanche of support from his adoring fans showed they would miss him too, but they will have to get used to a time when he is gone for good.

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