Paris SF: Lucie Safarova def. Flavia Pennetta (2) 4-6 6-3 6-4

Omg Lucie!! :worship::worship::worship:

Flavia :sad:

i wonder why no people open result today??:confused:
good job Lucie:bounce:

Another final in Paris :yeah:.

Flavia :hug:.

Great match to watch:hearts:
Both players played really well (positive winners/UE ratio for both), Lucie especially was quite amazing.

Flavia lost her head over a bad linecall at 4-4:smash: Long time since I saw that happening like this :o
But apart from her 2nd serve, her game looks quite in place atm, I'm pleased with it :)

Hope Safarova keeps this up for another match, she deserves it.

What a week for Lucie this is. Her level is so high, and she isn't having patches in the match where she disappears. Such a great result for her, and anything can happen in the final. So happy :D

lucie deserved to win, but flavia had plenty of chances... she really let it slip at 4-4 with her reaction to the fault call on the first point, i think it gave safa confidence too

I hope Lucie can take the title this time.

As I said in the WWW thread it would come down to serving. Flavia had a bunch of aces but more second serves. It took only 1 break in the 3rd set for Lucie to clinch it.

Very good match from both but Lucie on this surface is killer, very very difficult player.

However, I wanted so much for final between Elena and Flavia but it seems like destiny: they will never play against eachother...

Lucie meant tennis today. No remorse to Flavia

Flavia :o Arguing with the umpire at 4-4 was really unnecessary. She made double fault after that and another second serve then. She lost it in that moment. :/

Well deserved Lucie :worship:

So proud of Lucie. No doubt this tournament suits her, but she's maturing as well.:D It's easy to forget she's still quite young and likely hasn't peaked yet in her career.

After all the close losses of last year I especially like seeing her notch come from behind wins, especially against a player of Pennetta's consistency. Though to be honest the match was always on Lucie's racquet.

Smart point construction at times from Lucie, and it's obvious she's come to play and win.

As others have said, this was a quality match with a lot of strong rallies and winners.

Lucie :yeah:

Lucie :bigclap:

Lucie:woohoo: Fla:hug:

Happy with the result. :)

Can Flavia atleast smile,that she got outplayed by the better player today?
congrats Lucie amazing tennis the aggression and shot making

Flavia :sad: But a great match overall!

lucie :angel:

na's #10 spot. :angel:

Flavia :hug:

Congratulations Lucie, you're on fire :lol:

what a great week for lucie :eek: good luck in the final, please no meltdown.

Please, please win the title Lucie :banana:

good for you, Luc.
i find it so funny how she was playing terribly in all her previous events (AO, Fed Cup, retiring in Hobart, etc.) this season, and then storms to the final in Paris!

Yiiihaaaa :woohoo: So so happy :D
Take the title lulu!!

good for you, Luc.
i find it so funny how she was playing terribly in all her previous events (AO, Fed Cup, retiring in Hobart, etc.) this season, and then storms to the final in Paris!
She's been doing it for years. Always been a flukey player.
If she played up to her potential all the time, she'd be a top 5 player.

well done, Lucie! :D take the title :rocker:

Lucie :hearts: I predicted a great year for her, so far so good!

If Lucie wins the tournament I think her ranking will climb to 32!! Omg, the possibilites.

:wow:

I love this!

After watching Lucie playing like she did this week you just have to wonder how come she's never made it to the top-20 :confused:

Wow.

Lucie :woohoo: :cheer:

2007 + 1 please. :hearts:

Instead of a Pennetta - Dementieva final we will have an Oudin - Safarova Final

F M L

LUCIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE !!!! :inlove:
So happy. :sobbing: Great match from both, definitely one of the best so far in 2010. :hearts:

Please win the title, Lucie. :awww:

Instead of a Pennetta - Dementieva final we will have an Oudin - Safarova Final

F M L

Flavia :sad:

final - Safarova - Dementieva

flavia :sad: :(
that argument with the umpire at 4-4 didn't do her any favours :(

seems lena vs flavia is cursed :sad:

Nice to see such a talented player doing well again but feel sorry for Flavia who was probably going to win until the close line call at 4-4 after which she just gave up.

Yes Lucie, another final appearance! :rocker2:
Did a good job of rattling Penneta and was always threatening the serve.
I love them both but would like to see Lucie capture the title over Elena as shes played superb the whole week.

Flavia:oAnother match she should have won easily.

Flavia:oAnother match she should have won easily.
What? :spit:

Lucie should've won this in 2, she wasted break points in the first set and I believe she was playing better than Flavia in the first set. Afterwards Flavia started to play better and both made it a great match which Lucie eventually won. (:woohoo:)

Very good win, Lucie!:D:banana::woohoo:

Serve:
Lucie: 4 Aces, 2 DFs
Flavia: 9 Aces, 3 DFs

What an amazing week for Lucie!:hearts:

So happy for her, she really deserves this success!:yeah:

Now play your best tennis in Final, Lucie!
You have nothing to lose!

Electric hitting from Safarova throughout really. A calibre of tennis that we haven't seen from her since this very tournament 3 years ago.

I thought the match relied very heavily on Safarova landing her shots with enough frequency, because the weight of shot generally showed a gulf between them. Pennetta played quite a tactical first set, mixing up her 1st serve and not giving Safarova predictable opportunities on seve and allowing the Czech to get into much of a rhytm, to which she thrives. The key stat that proved to be a turn-around was the complete drop in 1st serve% from Pennetta. When Flavia has to rely on her second serve almost exclusively on this kind of surface, then she is at a distinct disadvantage immendiately.

Safarova was able to start playing effective 1-2 tennis, with still enough patience to outlast and ultimately out-hit the Italian in longer rallies. Indeed it was refreshing to see Safarova play in this vein today. Still going for audacious winners and bold shot selection, but there was an element of margin built in, especially on her forehand which has seemed to acquire more spin and thus doesn't fly all over the court as in recent years. This added security on the forehand gave Safarova more time to hit those thunderous BH drives with greater accuracy. As soon as the Czech started beefing up her first serve, she was in a very assertive position, not allowing Pennetta to hit freely or with any kind of time on the ball.

Tough lessons for Pennetta i feel. Her second serve really is one of THE weakest in the top 20, and i've been saying this for a while now. No kicking topspin or slice, just basically a softer, ineffectual version of her first serve. It's a veritable target for any competent ball-striker, and even more so for a player like Safarova who takes such vicious cuts at the ball anyway. Also, she began leeking errors deep in the third, going for random, first-strike shots, probably feeling unable to sustain her court positioning against the barrage of Safarova groundstrokes. Also i must add how impressed i was with Safarova's ability to hit out of the corners defensively and be in immediate offensive positions. I'm seeing a lot of subtle improvements in the Safarova game recently.

Great performance, and has a decent shot at the title now.

Lucie played unbelievably well in the 2nd and 3rd sets and deserved the win.

Is it me or have there been more good matches so far in 2010 than for the whole 2009? I keep reading about how good the matches are.

Lucie! :cheer::inlove:

Is it me or have there been more good matches so far in 2010 than for the whole 2009? I keep reading about how good the matches are.
True. There have already been a lot of great matches so far in 2010.

OMG Lucie :bowdown:
Amaze!!!