Just briefly this time - Stuttgart  draw has been already made and, as expected, it is a rather difficult one for your young Frenchwoman. Indeed, 16 of the top 20 players are present in Porsche AG’s hometown this year, which makes her chances of defending all the last year’s points something of a dream. But let us start from the beginning - in the first round she takes on Martina Muller of Germany (50th in the world, no previous encounter), but after that things go worse for Tati. Her next opponent would be Anna Chakvetadze (who has got a bye in the first round) and then, looming heavily, is the nightmare of a possible encounter with Ana Ivanovic, a new-blown Luxembourg champion and Tatiana’s bane. Among other top 20 players in the Frenchwoman’s half of the tournament spider are Svetlana Kuznetsova, Serena Williams and Marion Bartoli.

To check the entire draw click here

Best of luck Tati, you will need it!

EUROSPORT VIDEO SUMMARY OF THE MATCH CAN BE WATCHED HERE

After our Frenchwoman’s win over Francesca Schiavone in straight sets yesterday she was literally outclassed by Ana Ivanovic 1-6 2-6 in mere 57 minutes of play and says thus goodbye to Fortis Championships.

Ironically, Tati’s performance was not as bad as the scoreboard suggests… First, the match was something beyond common journalistic description. It was actually more of a theatre performance with one protagonist, the other only listening to her monologue in the backstage and being allowed to say a word here and there.
And as I mentioned above, it was not wholly Tati’s fault – the credit goes to the Serbian, who hit some of the most amazing winners I have seen in women’s tennis in the last five years. She succeeded in finding the lines with almost every shot she hit, even when running desperately from side to side as in the second game of the second set when she hit an amazing passing shot though stretched uncomfortably, Tatiana just giving a puzzled look. Indeed, in the course of the match the Frenchwoman was rarely allowed to step in and she never found her rhythm, being outplayed in all respects.
Tati held her serve just in the third game of the first and the sixth game of the second set and broke her opponent one single time in the seventh game of the second set.

Generally speaking, it is not a shame to lose to an opponent playing at such a level so I would like to thank Tatiana for her solid performances in Luxembourg, wish her a good relaxation and see you next week in Stuttgart Tati!

For those who want to check the match stats, click set1 set2 match

Article from L’Equipe today :
Bad news because Mats Wilander has returned to the USA and won’t work with Tati until the end of the season.
He will only work with her during the off-season.

After 1 hour 10 minutes on court, our young Frenchwoman got the job done, beating Sorana Cirstea of Romania  6-3 6-1. As expected, the match was one of the easier ones, though the tournament’s no.8 seed did not avoid several tricky moments.

As the beginning of the match suggested, Tatiana brought a bit of the Portoroz euphoria with her, breaking her opponent in the fourth game to take a 3-1 lead. However, when offered another two breakpoints in the sixth game she failed to take it, much to her frustration, got broken herself immediately afterwards and the Romanian crept closer at 4-3. Fortunately, Tati overcame this tricky moment, broke back and served out the set to 30 after 35 minutes of play.

And it was our young champion who appeared even tougher at the beginning of the second set – she swept the first four games, breaking Cirstea twice to jump out to a 4-0 lead. At that point it was especially her first serve, which gave the Romanian much trouble as Tati fired five aces and boasted a winning percentage of 83% on her first serve in the second set alone. This was apparent in the sixth game for instance, when Tatiana scored an ace to level things at deuce and held her serve in the end. Being 1-5 down in the set, the 17-year-old fought back to hold her serve in the following game and soon found herself 40-0 up, however, the Frenchwoman did not like the idea of making the match any longer, levelled the score and after some struggle went on to win 6-3 6-1.

For match statistics, click            set1            set2            match

In general terms, Tati gave a solid performance today and extended thus her winning streak to six matches, let us hope she keeps it up tomorrow when she takes on Francesca Schiavone, last year’s runner-up of this tournament.

Note: As you sure know, Tati also took part in the doubles competition with her compatriot Nathalie Dechy, unfortunately they lost in the first round to Chan/Shaughnessy 4-6 3-6 after 70 minutes of play.

In an epic three-set, 162-minute clash our young champion overpowered Katarina Srebotnik 2-6 6-4 6-4 and claimed second title of her career. However, the Slovenian, who had not dropped a set until the finals came proved herself a worthy opponent and certainly deserves credit for her performances throughout the tournament.

Actually it was the home player, who dominated the early exchanges and with a loud and boisterous crowd urging her on she was amassing winners one by one (especially some of her backhand volleys were impressive), whereas Tatiana appeared a bit rusty on the unusually fast surface and could not find the right rhythm. "I was not able to focus, I was not able to stay calm, maybe I was a little bit nervous, while Katarina started off very strong." Thus the Slovenian took the first set easily 6-2 after mere 28 minutes of play.

Moreover, to make things even worse for her, Tati got broken at the very beginning of the second set, yet she appeared to grow more settled with every passing moment and her shots (mostly forehand ones, as usual) started to find their targets more and more often. As a result, a tough struggle ensued in the following game, with Tatiana breaking back. At that point the match was pretty much equal, Srebotnik successfully employing the serve and volley tactic, while Tati finally found the right rhythm of her groundstrokes and held her serve in the third game. Her opponent drew level, but failed to give the Frenchwoman trouble on her serve, on the contrary it was the older player who got broken once more in the sixth game. Unfortunately, Tatiana, being 4-2 up, failed to edge forward and Srebotnik – after some struggle - levelled things once again at 4-4. However, the eventual champion withstood a strong charge from her opponent and with a newly found momentum secured the set 6-4, sending the match into a decisive third set. At that point Tati finally picked up her level and unleashed some lethal forehands, jumping out to a 3-0 lead soon. The Slovenian managed to hold her serve in the fourth game, wasting 6 gameballs in the process, yet Tatiana appeared ready to push on to victory and remained one break up until the ninth game. Her opponent broke her serve once more and inched closer at 5-4, but our champion stuck to her task with unruffled equanimity, retrieved the break of serve and sealed the deal at 2-6 6-4 6-4 after 2 hours 42 minutes of a pulsating battle.

To check the match statistics, click
set1     set2     set3     match

A PRE-MATCH INTERVIEW IS AVAILABLE HERE
YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THE MATCH HERE
MISCELLANEOUS QUOTES ARE COMPILED HERE

Generally speaking, both players showed some world-class tennis, Srebotnik in the first and Tati in the remaining sets, so I would like to thank them both for their performances and especially Tatiana, who made her fans proud of her once again!!!

CONGRATULATIONS TATI, ENJOY YOUR TITLE AND BEST OF LUCK IN LUXEMBOURG!

YOU CAN DOWNLOAD THIS MATCH HERE (video files checked and reuploaded due to some problems)

For the first time in three years the Portoroz tournament saw the top seed advance to finals and we can be proud of our young champion that it is her who achieved this feat, beating Vera Dushevina 7-6 (5) 6-2 en route after 1 hour 39 minutes of play.

However, things started off pretty badly for the Frenchwoman who got broken twice at the very beginning of the match and soon found herself 0-3 down. At that point it was obvious that Tati was unsure of the right style of play against the in-form Dushevina, whom she has never played before; still she showed her fighting spirit to inch closer at 2-3 and eventually level things. A fierce battle ensued, both players traded service breaks in the 9th and 10th game, still neither of them was able to edge forward so the set headed into a tiebreak. There, Tatiana proved her mental toughness and taking the tiebreak 7-5, secured the set 7-6 after 61 minutes of play.

 This served to galvanise the Frenchwoman, who broke her opponent at the very beginning of the second set and went 2-0 ahead soon, yet Dushevina was not going away quietly and managed to stay within touching distance of the top seed, having even a chance to break her in the fourth game. But the real struggle came in the sixth game, when Tati wasted seven gameballs on her serve before eventually holding at 4-2. Fortunately, she came even stronger out of that, breaking the Russian once more in the ensuing game and eventually served out the set to 15 after 38 minutes of play.

For match statistics, click     set1     set2     match

"It was my best performance this week. I am satisfied with my game, I feel that my strikes are as good as they were at the beginning of the season. My form is getting better and better. Dushevina is a great player. I knew that I had to play wisely and aggresively what I also managed," said Tatiana later of the match.

In tomorrow’s final she takes on home-favourite Katarina Srebotnik, who has still not dropped a set, but Tati is not scared of her that much: "For sure it will be a great final, best possible and I plan to give my best. Of course I have seen her play against Dulko, I know her well and she is one of the best players on the Tour. Regarding how we both played this past week, this will a final fit also for higher ranked tournaments. I am looking forward to tomorrow’s match and hope the fans will also enjoy."

The match starts at 4:00 pm CET, so good luck Tati, go for the title!

note: the draw of Fortis Championships (LUX) has been already made and Tati takes on Sorana Cirstea of Romania in the first and either Schiavone or Dechy in the second round.
The entire draw is available here

We told you that Tatiana Golovin will do the cover of French magazine "L’Equipe Féminine" tomorrow …
But the pdf document of that magazine is already out  !

So here comes a little preview of the interview with a really nice photoshoot ! Tatiana is soooo elegant !
(Tomorrow there will be real HQs with the real magazine)

You can download the magazine in pdf here.

Update 22/09/2007 : 
- Now real scans of the magazine can be found in the gallery here.
- And you can also found really high quality scans in the forum here

Our young champion needed only 71 minutes to cruise past her quarterfinal opponent Meilen Tu 6-3 6-2, however, as Tati confessed, the match was not an easy one: "I think the match was pretty equal despite the result which points out an easy win."

The Frenchwoman kicked things off in style and soon went 3-0 ahead in the set by securing an early break of her opponent‘s serve in the second game. And though she was broken in the seventh game, Tatiana was clearly dominating the set, closing it at 6-3 after 35 minutes of play.

The second set remained on serve until Tati broke Tu in the fifth game to take a 3-2 lead. From that point on Tatiana set about chipping away at the American with some of the best weapons from her arsenal (most notably she won 14 out of her 15 first serve points!) and breaking her opponent once more in the seventh game, she went on to win 6-3 6-2 after 1hour 11 minutes on the court. Now, according to Tatiana, what was the main difference? "Meilen Tu can beat many good players but you have to stay focused to do that. I was mentally fit what payed off at the end."

For match statistics, check            set1            set2            match

In her next match she plays Vera Dushevina of Russia (currently no. 46 in the world), somebody she has never played before on the tour, so she expects a tough encounter: "It will take a lot of effort and very good performance in order to reach the tournament final."

Best of luck, Tati!