Hantuchova earns Madrid place with Linz victory

Slovakia's Daniela Hantuchova defeated Patty Schnyder of Switzerland 6-4, 6-2 on Sunday to win the Linz Open.

Hantuchova's third career title took her earnings this year to more than $1 million.

Victory also earned her the final place in the eight-player field for the WTA Championships in Madrid from November 6. She ended the race with the same number of points as Maria Sharapova, who also qualified when Venus Williams withdrew after suffering dizziness at the US Open. The American is still undergoing tests to determine the cause.

It was Hantuchova's fourth final of the year and her second title, after she defeated Svetlana Kuznetsova to win Indian Wells and lost in Bali to Lindsay Davenport and to Ana Ivanovic in Luxembourg.

Schnyder hit two double-faults in her opening service game and had to fight off two break points before holding for 1-1. However, she earned the first break, taking a 3-2 lead when second-seeded Hantuchova put a forehand wide.

The Slovak struggled to find her timing and her tendency to try for the lines back-fired several times as she missed her mark by a small margin.

Sixth-seeded Schnyder won two service games at love and then came within two points of breaking again for a 5-2 lead. But Hantuchova survived that threat and then broke to love to level at 4-4 with two fine winners and the help of some slack play from Schnyder.

Moving the ball around well and now making fewer errors, Hantuchova broke again for the set when Schnyder put a forehand long.

Hantuchova always held the advantage in the second set, after her confused opponent walked to the wrong end of the court to recommence play.

A forehand error gave Hantuchova a break for 3-1 but she had to fight off two break points in the next game, one with a finely-struck forehand winner and the second with a brilliantly-executed backhand volley, before holding with an ace.

Schnyder faced another break point at 4-1, saved with an overhead, but a forehand error at 5-2 gave Hantuchova another break and the match.

Source: sports.indiatimes.com