Errani Downs Medina for Second Straight Title

Sara Errani had reached a respectable three quarterfinals in the first half of the season, but that feat has been blown out of the water by her last two efforts. In Palermo two weeks ago she captured her first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour title at the Internazionali Femminili di Tennis di Palermo and this week in Portoroz she extended her streak to 10 matches and two titles at the Banka Koper Slovenia Open.
 
Seeded No.8 in the picturesque Slovenian city, Errani's draw never even opened up, as she faced exactly who she was supposed to face en route to the Sunday final. In the quarterfinals she went up against No.1 seed Maria Kirilenko and beat her, 61 75, then in the semifinals she faced No.3 seed Caroline Wozniacki and beat her too, 64 64. Next up would be finals veteran Anabel Medina Garrigues, the No.4 seed and playing in her 13th career final; Errani's winning streak would not be stopped, as she dispatched the feisty Spaniard in straight sets, 63 63.
 
"I think we were both tired, but we both tried hard and it was a nice match," said Errani on the final. "We know each other very well. We practice together in Valencia, and I've played her a few times before. I think she maybe struggled a bit with the long points and made some errors, which helped me today."
 
With two titles in her last two ventures, Errani is quickly asserting herself as one of the fastest-rising stars in the women's game. And it's not like she has benefited from any luck in the draws. In Palermo she had to go through the likes of Flavia Pennetta, who returns to the Top 20 this week, in the semis; in Portoroz she had the aforementioned win over current Top 20 player Kirilenko (her second Top 20 win, as she had beaten Agnes Szavay earlier this season).
 
"The hardcourts here in Portoroz are a little bit slower, which probably helped me against aggressive players like Kirilenko and Wozniacki," Errani declared. "It was probably better for me to play against them than against Anabel today, because it made it more difficult for them to close the points out."
 
The 21-year-old Errani didn't point to anything in particular for her recent spike in results; just the hard work finally paying off.
 
"I haven't changed anything this year; I just try to practice hard every day, and the results are starting to come. At the beginning of the year I was just hoping to make it to the Olympic team and I did make it, which I'm really excited about."
 
The only other significant surprise of the week came in the second round, as No.2 seed and heavy crowd favorite Katarina Srebotnik was ousted in straight sets by Germany's Julia Goerges. It was a rematch of their Wimbledon marathon, which was also won by Goerges, but in much different fashion (in a match that was approaching four hours in length, that one ended 16-14 in the third set).
 
The doubles final was the last match to go on court on Saturday night, and Medina Garrigues and Virginia Ruano Pascual, the top seeds, beat unseeded duo Vera Dushevina and Ekaterina Makarova for the title, 64 61. Medina Garrigues and Ruano Pascual have now won four Tour doubles titles together, their biggest by far coming at Roland Garros this past June. They have also won Tier IVs at Stockholm last year, Hobart earlier this year and now Portoroz this week.

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