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Local favorite Patty Schnyder toppled defending champion
and second-seeded Lindsay Davenport 6-7 (5), 7-6 (8), 6-3
on Sunday in the final of the US$1,224,000 Swisscom
Challenge to win her first career Tier 1 title.
The Swiss
player kept her nerve throughout the 2 hour, 15 minute
contest to win her first title of the season, the eighth
of her career. It marked her first on home soil.
"It's my biggest title ever," said the 19th-ranked
Schnyder, after recording her first victory against
Davenport in six meetings. "I played a great tournament.
There was so much emotion playing in Switzerland in front
of my home crowd.
"It's given me so much confidence. It's a great victory."
Schnyder's journey to the final was a combination of luck
and impressive skill.
The Swiss
drew Czech qualifier Denisa Chladkova in the first round,
then walked through the second when third-seeded Amelie
Mauresmo of France withdrew with a knee injury.
But that's
when Schnyder began earning her way through, upsetting
seventh-seeded Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia in a
marathon three-setter, then defeating Spanish veteran
Conchita Martinez less than 12 hours later in the
semifinals.
Schnyder and Davenport stayed neck-and-neck throughout the
opening set, with both players missing a number of
chances, the American squandering two break points at 2-2
and her opponent wasting three at 5-4.
They continued to remain close in the tiebreak, with
Davenport only eking the win when Schnyder sent a giant
lob out down 6-5.
The second
set was just as tight, but saw the first break at 1-1 when
Davenport double-faulted to give Schnyder the advantage,
then sent the ball long on the next point. But the
American immediately recovered her serve, going ahead
40-15 before wrong-footing her Swiss opponent.
Davenport appeared poised for victory, taking a 7-6 lead
in the second tiebreak, but Schnyder suddenly ambushed
her, taking four of the next five points, evening the sets
when the American sent a forceful backhand hurtling out.
Schnyder broke to go 3-1 in the third, marking the first
two-game gap of the match. Again Davenport immediately
recovered her serve, but this time with more difficulty,
needing five break points.
The American
was unable to repeat the feat when she was broken 5-3,
with Schnyder sealing the title on her own serve, when
Davenport lunged in vain to save a crosscourt forehand
shot.
"It was a
close match right from the beginning," Schnyder said. "I
saved a set point before losing it. I saved a match point
in the second.
"I was a bit
nervous in the first set. I played the tiebreak badly but
I kept on fighting. And my game got better and better.
After that, she was doing everything she could to beat
me."
Schnyder's only other final this year was in Charleston in
April when she lost to Iva Majoli.
The victory
keeps alive Schnyder's chances of qualifying for the
season-ending Championships.
The Swiss
player, who has long lived in the shadow of her
illustrious compatriot Martina Hingis, had never reached
further than the round of 16 in her eight previous
appearances in Zurich.
Davenport had hurt her shin during training the previous
day and then jammed it again during her semifinal against
fourth-seeded Justine Henin. Though it was treated ahead
of the final, Davenport acknowledged she was not 100
percent for the match.
"It (my shin)
loosened up as the game went on but then the longer it
went the more it got sore. I took a one-hour pain pill
before the match but I thought 'Oh, God,' that's only the
first set. But once the adrenaline gets going, it's good."
"I was given
all the chances but I just didn't take them," she added.
"Some losses are a bigger disappointments than others. I
have to be happy I was able to play as I did."
The American
planned to skip the tournament in Linz next week in favor
of nursing her shin ahead of the Championships, held in
her home town, Los Angeles.
Schnyder's win is one of the few blemishes on Davenport's
remarkable record in Zurich. The player is 18-2 at the
event, with her only other loss coming against Martina
Hingis in the final in 2000. The American won back-to-back
titles in 1997 and 1998 and tournaments in nearby Lucerne
in 1993 and 1994.
Davenport retains her ranking of world No. 10, while
Schnyder could climb to No. 13.
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