Matches:

1 rd: -Vera def. Amanda Coetzer 3-6 6-1 6-2

 

2 rd: -Vera def. Vera Douchevina 6-2 6-1

 

Quarterfinal: -Vera lost to Amelie Mauresmo 4-6 6-2 4-6

 

Doubles Matches:

1rd: -Vera Z. / Myskina def. Dementieva/ Krasnoroutskaya 7-5 3-6 6-4

 

2 rd: -Vera Z. / Myskina def. Farina Elia/ Schiavone 6-7(3) 6-1 7-5

 

Semifinal: - Vera Z. / Myskina def. Kuznetsova/ Navratilova 6-7(8) 6-2 6-4

 

Final: - Vera Z. / Myskina lost to Petrova/ Shaughnessy 3-6 4-6

 

The first round match in the singles category was a very successful one. Vera was expected to play 3 difficult sets against Coetzer, but she managed to take complete control of the situation in the final two sets, winning them easily.

The second round was a perfect example of a win over an inexperienced opponent. Although we already heard of Vera Douchevina before, and perhaps will again, it would have been surprising to see the 16-year-old a victor of this encounter.

The quarterfinal… Well, the match could have ended in Vera’s favour, if it hasn’t been for all the errors she committed. Undoubtedly, if Zvonareva was just a bit more careful, she would have advanced further into the Kremlin Cup draw. But, she didn’t and the result was 59(!) unforced errors. This is particularly depressing because Mauresmo herself made 60 such mistakes and Vera did not take advantage of those. It is a mystery, of what caused such a poor performance.

Regardless of the struggle in the singles draw, Vera had put up a great show in the doubles game. Partnering the singles champion Anastasia Myskina, Vera was able to defeat superb doubles pairs, like Navratilova/Kuznetsova and Dementieva/ Krasnoroutskaya, reaching the final. This is indeed impressive considering the fact that neither Zvonareva, nor Myskina had defeated seeded doubles pairs before. And even the final defeat was not entirely their own fault: Myskina had to play the doubles match less than three hours after her singles play and hence she was tired. Nevertheless, Vera and Anastasia had both said in their interviews that they plan to play together the whole of the next season, but only if they automatically qualify for the main draw. Looks like Vera finally found herself a good partner!

So how can we rate such a fluctuating play in Moscow? On one hand, Vera reached a quarterfinal in a Tier1 event, stressing the world no.7 to 3 sets of fairly equal battles. On the other hand, Vera did too many mistakes, despite the fact that she had a vocation before the tournament. Yet, her good performance in doubles cannot be disregarded as well. While loss to Mauresmo was predictable, no one could have said in advance that Vera and Nastya will fall only in the final. In addition, although Vera’s game was far from perfect, her serve really improved at the Kremlin Cup. Interestingly, Vera had won 75% of her first serves, and had 56% of winning-second-serve situations.