Tennis: Victory well-deserved by Bartoli

Marion Bartoli celebrates with the trophy after her 6-2, 6-2 victory over Vera Zvonareva in the ASB Classic final yesterday. Ross Land / Getty Images

For someone who had just won her first WTA Tour title, you might think Marion Bartoli might have been looking for something a little more befitting than a diet Coke. Champagne, perhaps. After all, she is French.

But it's the 21-year-old's way. There are no airs or graces about her and it was Bartoli who looked the consummate professional in claiming her breakthrough win at the ASB Classic yesterday.

The scoreline was perhaps a little deceptive considering it took 91 minutes for the world No 37 and tournament No 6 seed to triumph 6-2, 6-2 over Russian Vera Zvonareva. But Bartoli was always in control of her more experienced opponent. Her double-handed backhand, in particular, was on the mark - helping her to more than 25 clean winners. Her forehand, also a double hander, wasn't too bad either.

She was able to disguise her shots so well Zvonareva was often sent the wrong way and the highly-fancied Russian was often heard letting out shrieks of frustration as the match slipped away. Bartoli chased down everything Zvonareva threw at her and made very few errors. On the rare occasion she did, she would fire off a look that could cut through ice, such was its intensity.

Bartoli broke Zvonareva as early as the third game of the match and had only one break point against her when she was serving for the match at 5-2 and nerves started to set in. She had already botched three championship points at 5-1 and was desperately hoping nerves wouldn't get the better of her. They didn't.

"I think I played an amazing match today," Bartoli said. "I can't quite realise I have won. Maybe I'll realise it tomorrow.

"I think my level of game surprised her because I didn't make many mistakes. I was taking the ball early and made her run - I think she ran a lot today. Most of the time I was inside the court, I was dictating the points more than her and in the past it has been the opposite."

Although she was seeded and ranked below Bartoli, Zvonareva went into the match as the favourite, having won through to the final without dropping a set and dispatching the likes of second seed and world No 17 Daniela Hantuchova and fourth seed Maria Kirilenko. The Russian is also a former world No 9 and is being tipped for a return soon to the top 10 after a difficult 2005 blighted by illness and injury.

Zvonareva had some consolation later in the day when she teamed up with compatriot Elena Likhovtseva to take the doubles 6-3, 6-4 over France's Emilie Loit and Barbora Strycova from the Czech Republic.

For Bartoli, she took a simple game plan into the match. "I was watching Vera a little bit this week and felt the other players were trying too hard and they give the point away too much," she explained. "Daniela made mistakes because she was trying to hit it harder than she's used to. I thought that maybe if I make her [Zvonareva] keep playing, take the ball early and move her around, I might have my chance. And that's what I did very well today."

Bartoli, a beaten semifinalist in the past two Auckland events, will more than likely take a well-earned break this week before she breezes into the Australian Open brimming with confidence.

If she succeeds there, maybe she'll even crack open something a little stronger than a diet Coke.


- HERALD ON SUNDAY