Nadia finally wins a tournament!

Russia's talented and often self-critical tennis player, Nadia Petrova, who has been in the WTA Top 10 for a long time and who has played in five tournament finals, finally broke the curse on Sunday, defeating Switzerland's Patty Schnyder to win the Generali Ladies Linz, a Tier II event. Schnyder, a leftie, injured her left hand in the course of the match, and it is hard to know to what extent it hampered her, but I suspect the injury played a major role in the sudden, second-set decline in Schnyder's game.

I was disappointed, especially when I learned of the injury, for I am a big Schnyder fan. I wish it had been a fairer contest. However, I am very pleased to see Petrova finally win a title, something she has deserved for a long time. Only a couple of weeks ago, she lost a Tier III final in Bangkok to teenager Nicole Vaidisova.

Last week, Schnyder was defeated by world number one Lindsay Davenport, another of my favorites, in the Tier I Zurich Open. The good news is that Schynder has regained her highest-ever ranking of number eight in the world.