Schnyder wins Australian tournament
Swiss tennis player and second seed Patty Schnyder has beaten local favourite Samantha Stosur to win the Gold Coast women’s hardcourt final in Australia.
It’s the first title Schnyder has won for two years. Her last victory was at the Swisscom Challenge at Kloten near Zurich in October 2002.
Schnyder lost the first set in 17 minutes to Stosur, but fought back to win 1-6, 6-3, 7-5 to claim her ninth WTA victory on Saturday.
In the final set Schnyder held her serve after breaking 20-year-old Stosur in the previous game.
The Swiss, the world number 14, was trailing 0-40 to the Australian – ranked 65 – but took the game and the opportunity to serve out the match.
Schnyder broke Stosur in the sixth game of the second set to take a 4-2 lead before levelling the match at a set each following an overrule by a linesman.
The baseline linesman overruled his initial call on a Stosur winner that would have given the Australian a vital break.
But the chair umpire ordered the point to be replayed and Schnyder went on to hold her serve.
It was the second victory for the Swiss at the Gold Coast tournament after her win in 1999.
The 26-year-old Schnyder, who hails from the Basel region, takes home $170,000 (SFr200,600) in prize money.
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Patty Schnyder was born in Basel on December 14, 1978.
A left-handed player, she turned professional in 1994.
She is ranked 14 but she achieved her best ranking, number 8, in 1999.
She won tournaments in Hobart, Hanover, Madrid, Maria Lankowitz and Palermo in 1998, the Gold Coast in 1999, Pattaya in 2001 and Kloten (Zurich) in 2002.
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