By Sunder Iyer  
On behalf of the Tashkent Open Media Team

Uzbekistan’s top player Akgul Amanmuradova did not let down her fans , reaching the last of the Tashkent Open. Coming through a third set tiebreak win lasting 2 hrs 40 mins against Ekaterina Bychkova , she spoke to the media team .

Congratulations, How does it feel, winning today winning a close encounter on your home turf ?
Akgul : Today is a big day for me to win here in Tashkent , my home town. I’m thrilled to have taken revenge over Byckova who had defeated me in France a few weeks back. Had I won the match I would have quailifed for the US Open, but it is sweet victory and worked very hard today for the win

Probably this was the longest match you’ve ever played in Tashkent in the last eight years?
Akgul: Smiles, I Think Bychkova is a very good player and she deserves all praise for her performance today. The way she has being playing it is solid, she’s a fighter and I had to really fight hard for a win. I’m happy to have won such a long match. The other thing is that this win is going to give me a lot of confidence about my game.

You played patchy tennis, being on top at one moment and then hitting the bottom almost instantly ?
Akgul : Frankly the whole of the year I’ve been playing patchy tennis, it’s not only this match. Earlier I used to be playing 2 meters behind the baseline. But my coach has been asking me to be more aggressive and move on to the net. You see I’m not to young to adapt immediately, and this takes time, also I’ve not had time to stop and work on the game, but all the practice takes place during matches and the spare time. So I have to keep trying in matches and that’s when mistakes occur. I’m happy that the changes are working and are surely positive and helping my game better. I’m more aggressive now and even today my aggression helped me to win important points, which tilted the advantage to my favour.

What are other things you’re working on?
Akgul :  I have to work on my focus, today on the circuit everyone is the same player , standards are same , but the mentally stronger players achieve more . I’m improving my mental toughness.

You have lost your singles rankings, but your doubles rankings have improved?
Akgul: Yes I’m having my best doubles ranking of my career, Like I said I’m working on a new game and this is perfect for doubles, and the results are also showing and so are my rankings in doubles.

What are you’re goals short term and long term?
Akgul: To do well at this Tournament is my first priority. Then we have few challengers and the Kremlin Cup. The idea is to stop playing tournaments in November so we will have enough time to practice and start the New Year on bright note at the Australian Open. The long term is to improve my best singles ranking, by early next year. We took a break and worked on the game, I’m sure that the remaining year will see me back on track.

It was great to watch so many people come to watch you play today and cheer for you?
Akgul: It’s a good so many people came to watch the match on their own, The crowd support helped me morally and I’m surely not going to let them down . Also for the youngsters watching there was a lesson” If one keeps fighting results will come”.

Any thoughts about the next match ?
Akgul : Every match and opponent is tough , next I’m playing Voegele , she’s smart player and has a solid game . I’ll have to stay focused, I’ve a  slight advantage as I have won our earlier encounter , But I’m giving it all for sure.

It was truly colorful sight as many as around 50 tiny tots, drawn from various kindergarten schools in Tashkent gathered at the Olympic Tennis school tennis courts to enjoy a game of tennis.
The event was organized by the Uzbekistan tennis Federation (UTF ) to coincide with the ongoing Tashkent Open.
According to Kim Valery, Coordinator UTF, these programmes involve bringing children from different schools to the courts each day for the next two days, for two hours in the morning and expose them to the atmosphere of the event and the sport. We will have another 50 kids coming in tomorrow, he said.
Uzbekistan Tennis Federation Junior Tennis has initiated the event to popularize the sport among children “It’s not about teaching them to play tennis but to show them the fun side of it,” Valery added
Says Oleg Khabibulin, coordinator of Mini tennis in Uzbekistan, we have been running the programme all over the nation. We have more than 17000 children playing mini tennis.
Now we have tournaments at Namangan, Kharshi , Samarkand , Bukhara and Tashkent regularly, he adds. “We have been able to send 20 young children from our programme into the Olympic school this year, Khabibulin adds.
The children attending the event today received souvenirs like caps, towels, balls from the Uzbekistan Tennis Federation apart from Mini racquets and balls.
To make it the event interactive, fun games were also organized for the children. Prizes were given away at the hands of S. Uthrapathy, Tournament Director Tashkent Open.

Local Girl Nigina goes Down Fighting

Tashkent, September 23: Darya Kustova of Belarus came back from being four match points down to upset eighth seeded Galina Voskoboeva of Kazakhstan and make it to the quarterfinals of the 11th edition of the Tashkent Open a Sony Ericsson WTA tour event being played at the Olympic Tennis School Tennis Courts here today.
Wildcard entrant Nigina Abduraimova displayed grit and determination and gave a display of gritty tennis before gong down to Fifth seeded Swiss player Stefanie Voegele.
In the second round played today the 23 year old Kustova scraped past Voskoboeva 1-6,6-3,7-6(9) in a 2hour 17 minute battle, to record her best ever career performance on the WTA tour event making it to the last eight. While the player Stefanie Voegele had to gather all her experience to quell the challenge of upcoming Uzbek junior Nigina Abduraimova winning 6-2,5-7,6-3 in a 1 hour 36 min battle.
In other second round matches played today top seeded Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan went through a close first set before overcoming Ekaterina Ivanova of Russia 7-5,6-2 ,while sixth seeded Romanian Monica Niculescu scored a relatively easy 6-1,6-4 win over Russian Evgeniya Rodina to make it the second consecutive quarterfinal here.
The fifteen year old Abduraimova won the hearts of fairly good crowd gathered here, with a daring display of tennis. Voegele ranked 76th started off well winning the first set rather easily 6-2.
In the second set the tall and lanky Uzbek player broke Voegele decisively in the 12th game and went on to win the second set 7-5, and force the match into the third set.
Voegele ranked about 790 places ahead of the Abduraimova broke her in the 2nd and the sixth game to wrap up the set and the match and make it to the Last eight of the event.
In the best match of the day the 23 year old Kutsova who has never gone beyond a second round at any of the Tour events made a come back of sorts, coming back from a medical time out, being 3-5 down in the third set and four match points down in the tie break to cause the biggest upset of the day at the event.
Voskoboeva looked like walking off winning the first set 6-1. Kutsova called for a trainer on court and after the treatment seemed totally a different player chasing balls around the court. In the second set she came back strongly breaking Voskoboeva in the 8th game to lead 5-3 and then hold on to her serve to force the third set.
In the third set Voskoboeva rushed to a 5-3 lead, but Kutsova broke in the 9th game and then held on her serve in the 10th game to level scores at 5-5.
Voskoboeva managed to hold on to her serve in the 11th game to go up 6-5, Kutsova held the 12th game to force a tie break. In the well contested tiebreak Voskoboeva lead 6-4 , 7-6, 8-7 in the tiebreak.
Kutsova played fearless tennis than Voskoboeva , and finally wrapped the match with a down the line winner at 10-9 in the tie break
"I just believed I could do it, last week I lost from being up two match points, so I was confident I could win the match being four match points down too", Kutsova said after the match.
I'm so thrilled to win , I just forgot the pain in my knee during the match , and wanted to win the match so badly more than that I'm happy to be in my first ever Tour Event Quarterfinal , she added.
In the last set of first round matches second seeded Shahar Peer of Israel fresh from her triumph at Guangzhou kept up the winning run ousting Italian 6-0,6-1, while fourth seeded Olga Govortsova ended the challenge of Russian Qualifier Arina Rodionova 6 -3,6-2

Following are the results:

First Round singles
S.2 Shahar Peer (Isr) bt Maret Ani ( Ita) 6-0,6-1
S.4 Olga Govortsova(Blr) bt Q. Arina Rodionova 63,6-2

Second round
S.1 Yaroslava Shvedova(Kaz) bt Ekaterina Ivanova (Rus) 7-5,6-2
S.5 Stefanie Voegele (Sui) bt. (WC)Nigina Abduraimova (Uzb) 6-2,5-7,6-3
Darya Kustova (Blr) bt S.8 Galina Voskoboeva (Kaz) 1-6,6-3,7-6(7)
S6 Monica Niculescu (Rou) Evgeniya Rodina (Rus) 6-3,6-2

Doubles ( First Round)
Akgul Amanmuradova (Uzb)/Darya Kustova (Blr) bt. Ekaterina Bychkova/ Alexandra Panova(Rus) 6-2,6-1
Olga Govortsova/ Tatiana Poutchek( Blr) bt Elena Chalova (Rus) / Nikola Frankova (Cze) 6-2,6-3
Monica Niculescu(Rou) /Ahsha Rolle(USA) bt Maria Kondratieva (Rus) /Sophie Lefevere(Fra) 6-1,7-5
Olga Savchuk(Ukr)/Arina Rodionova(Rus) v/s Ioana Raluca Olaru(Rou) /Galina Voskoboeva(Kaz)

By Sunder Iyer  
On behalf of the Tashkent Open Media Team

Seeded second at Tashkent, Israel’s tennis icon Shahar Peer fresh from her triumph at Guangzhou, wants to make it two in row.
Winning her first round easily, she was more than eager to answer our questions.

- Just coming back from a long and tiring journey and winning the event at Guangzhou how did you play today?
- Shahar: Yes last week, it was a long tournament, the weather was not too good at Guangzhou, and I was little tired after a long journey. But I’ve had time to recover, and today I played well.
- So tell us about Today’s match?
- Shahar: I’ve played Maret Ani three times before, so knew how she plays and was well prepared.
- You won at Guangzhou three years after you won your first event in 2006, hasn’t it been a long wait?
- Shahar:  It is true that I’ve won a WTA tour event after three years; the best think is that means I’m back in action, it was an important win. I’m not thinking why I didn’t win, but my goal is to try and win more events.
- You’re rankings also dropped from being to top 15 in 2007 to being 55 now?
- Shahar :   A lot of things affected my ranking , I was playing some very good tennis , and there was the issue in Dubai where I was not given a visa to play , this affected me personally and professionally, unfortunately it happened at the beginning of the year and I lost some momentum.
Again I was probably playing my best tennis and I was diagnosed for stress fracture and had to pull out of many events and lost the clay season entirely. Making a comeback on Grass at Wimbledon is easy. All this has taken a toll on the ranking.
- So how much has all this affected you?
- Shahar: I’ve put all this behind me , Importantly I’m playing better tennis , I’m in good shape and my aim to break may highest ranking and be in the top 10 soon.
- Coming back on the Dubai issue, what are your thoughts and would you like to play there?
- Shahar:  Surely I would like to play in Dubai next year, I feel Sports should help in breaking political barriers, and Sports should be not used to politise issues.
- What are plans for the remaining part of the year?
- Shahar:  First on my agenda is to win the Tashkent WTA event, I’ve played four years ago in the qualifying , But I want to win the event, then I travel to Beijing, Osaka, Luxembourg on the next leg of the tour.

Amanmuradova, Abduraimova keep local interest alive

Tashkent, September 22: Coming back to the WTA Tour after nearly six months of oblivion unseeded Russian Ekaterina Bychkova created the first upset when she knocked out third seed and 66th ranked Romanian   Raluca Ioana Olaru 7-5, 7-5 to enter the second round of the 11th edition of the Tashkent Open a Sony Ericsson WTA tour event being played at the Olympic Tennis School Tennis Courts here today.
The other seeds in action today Top seeded Yaroslava Shvedova ,Sixth seeded ,  Monica Niculescu ( Rou)  and seventh seeded Patricia Mayr scored along with Uzbek Players Akgul Amanmurdova and wild card entrant  Nigina Abduraimova scored contrasting  wins to move into the last 16.
24 year Russian Bychkova, a former top 100 player and currently ranked 120, came back from a six month grind on the ITF circuit to record her biggest win of the year knocking out the Romanian Olaru ranked 60 places above her in a 2.06 minute battle.
“I’m very excited about my win, really excited”. “Having played three weeks on clay and immediately coming here and playing on hard court and winning against Olaru is a good win for me” said Bychkova who was a top seed at this event in 2005.
“ I had two very tough years , from being in top 100 for two years , to suddenly being  around 190, it is difficult to digest, but I guess this a part of the professional circuit” , said the 24 year old Russian. “Also this is sweet revenge for me as Olaru had defeated me at Eastbourne last year” she added.
55th world ranked   Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan served ten aces to outplay an out of form Italian Maria Elena Camerin 6-1,6-1 in 1hr 16 minutes.
However Olaru’s country mate sixth seeded and 78th ranked Monica Niculescu scored a easy 6-3, 6-0 win over Italian Corinna Denton, while seventh seeded and 83rd ranked Patricia Mayr of Austria scored a tough 7-5,6-4 win over Belarusian Ekaterina  Dzehalevich in a 1hour 40 mins tussle.
Fifteen year old Wild card entrant Nigina Abduraimova justified the organizers decision of granting her a wild card as scored one of the biggest victories of her young career outplaying Qualifier Lesya Tsurenko of Ukraine ranked 618 places ahead of her. The tall and lanky Abduraimova currently ranked 867 won   6-3, 6-2 in a match lasting exactly 1 hour.
Local star Akgul Amanmuradova coming back from an injury played patchy tennis to overcome a late challenge from  another Qualifier Ksenia Lykina of Russia , winning 6-1,4-6,6-3 in a 1 hour 50 minute battle.
Speaking after the match the young Uzbek player Abduraimova said “ I’ve a incredible feeling, that I cannot explain . I had no pressure on me and just went for my shots I’m happy everything went well for me .  

Following are the results:

Singles (First Round)
S.1Yaroslava Shvedova(Kaz) bt Maria Elena Camerin(Ita) 6-1,6-1
Ekaterina Ivanova(Rus) bt Lenka Wienerova (Svk)               7-6(5), 7-5
Evageniya Rodina bt Kristina Kucova (Svk)                         7-6(5), 7-6(1)
S.6 Monica Niculescu (Rou)   bt Corinna Dentoni(Ita)           6-3, 6-0
Ekaterina Bychkova (Rus) bt  S.3  Raluca Ioana Olaru ( Rou)  7-5,7-5
Akgul Amanmuradova(Uzb)   Ksenia Lykina (Rus)               6-1,4-6,6-3
Nigina Abduraimova( Uzb)  bt  Lesya Tsurenko (Ukr)                   6-3,6-2
Darya Kustova(Blr)   bt Yuliana Fedak (Ukr)                            6-2, 6-4
Vesna Manasieva(Rus)  bt Aleksandra Kolesnichenko (Uzb)    6-1, 6-1
S.7 Patricia Mayr (Aut) bt Ekaterina  Dzehalevich (Blr)      7-5,  6-4
Alexandra Panova(Rus) bt Sandra Zahlavova (Cze)                   6-2,6-1
Kathrin Woerle (Ger) bt Sabina Sharipova (Uzb)                   7-6(0),7-5

Doubles ( First Round)
Maria Elene Camerin(Ita) / Ksenia Palkina(Kgz) bt  Iroda Tulyaganova/Albina Khabibulina 6-7(2),6-1,13-11
Yuliana Fedek(Ukr)/Vesna Manasieva(Rus) bt Ani Maret(Est)/Lesya Tsurenko(Ukr) 6-4,3-6,10-4 .
Vitalia Diatchenko(Rus)/ Ekaterina Dzehalevich (Blr) bt Stefanie Voegele(Sui)/Patricia Mayr (Aut) 6-4,7-6(4)
S.1 Ipek Senoglu(Tur)/Yaroslava Shvedova(Kaz) bt Kristina Kucova(Svk)/Kathrin Woerle ( Ger) 6-3,7-5