Flavia Pennetta showed a lot of heart to keep
her claycourt winning streak intact.
The top seed from Italy ran her winning streak on the surface to 15 by
rallying for a 3-6 7-5 6-3 triumph over Slovakia's Ludmila Cervanova in the
final of the £180,000 Abierto Mexicano Telcel tennis tournament.
Pennetta, who picked up 27,500 for the win, has reached four straight finals
on clay, winning the last three. After capturing the Bogota event last week, the
22-year-old Pennetta had to show some resiliency this week.
After dropping just one set all week, she was stunned by Cervanova early
before regrouping from a strained left adductor.
"I started the match a little nervous, and she was playing very well,"
Pennetta said.
"I was feeling pain in my left leg in the first set, but then it got much
better after receiving treatment."
The 24-year-old Cervanova, who had also dropped just one set heading into the
final, was making her second career appearance in a final. The 99th-ranked
player in the world, Cervanova lost for the fourth time in 11 matches this
year.
"In the second set, I started to think that I might win," Cervanova said.
"I think I got a little nervous and started making mistakes. I really, really
wanted to win, having already been in a final. Maybe that's why I lost the third
set. Plus, she was playing so well."
E-mail Article 
Print-Friendly
Subscribe to RSS Feed 
Post to del.icio.us
Facebook