China’s Li Na overcame injury and Patty Schnyder to advance to the semi-finals of the Qatar Telecom German Open.  The tightly fought quarterfinal match lasted nearly 2¼ hours before Li prevailed 26 76(3) 76(1).

Despite two previous victories over her opponent, breaks late in the second and third sets, and three match points, Schnyder was unable to claim victory, with errors by the left-hander and a dominant performance by Li clinching both tiebreakers.

Li, who is ranked 61 in the world and was a part of the historical all-Chinese final at last week’s Estoril Open, now faces No. 2 seeded Nadia Petrova, with the other semi-final to be played out between 3rd seeded Justine Henin-Hardenne and either No.1 seed Amelie Mauresmo or Martina Hingis whose match was halted due to poor light.  Meanwhile Schnyder will have a few days rest before play begins at the Internazionali d’Italia on May 15.
Last Updated ( Saturday, 13 May 2006 )

Today Patty Schnyder defeated Israel’s Anna Smashnova 6-3 6-3 and advanced to the quarterfinals at the Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin. The number four seeded Swiss lost the last three matches against Smashnova but today Patty had no problems. During the 1 hour 12 minutes lasting match Patty broke the Israeli six times and was always the dominating player on the court. In the quarterfinals Schnyder will face the Chinese player Na Li. The 24-year-old Li is currently the number 61 in the WTA ranking. Patty met her twice before and won both matches

Patty Schnyder beat Estonia’s Maret Ani 6-1 6-2 and reached the third round at the Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin. After a first round bye the number four seeded Swiss showed a solid performance today.In the last match on the centercourt today Patty won the first set quickly 6-1. The second set was closer, but the Swiss was never in danger. After 1 hour and 5 minutes Patty finished the match with her first matchpoint. In the fourth round on Thursday the Swiss will face Israel’s Anna Smashnova, who beat today Virginie Razzano from France in three sets. Smashnova leads in the head-to-head 3-2 and won the last three matches against Patty.

This year Patty takes part for the ninth time at the tournament in Berlin, her best result was in the last year when she lost in the semifinals against the later winner Justine Henin-Hardenne.

Patty Schnyder failed in her this years debut match on the european red clay. After a first round bye the second seeded Swiss lost today against Ana Ivanovic 3-6 2-6. Patty won all her four previous matches against Ivanovic but today the 18-year-old Serbian star was really under fire. She broke the Swiss four times and had always the control over the match. The world number eight from Switzerland never found her rhythm today. Ivanovic’s dominance held on over the whole match and after 74 minutes she got a deserved win. In the tomorrow’s quarterfinals the Serbian will face Russia’s Anna Chakvetadze, who beat Daniela Hantuchova fom Slovakia today.
Patty’s next tournament will be the Qatar Total German Open in Berlin, which starts on May 8th. 

atty Schnyder couldn’t take the last stage to the title at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston. Another three set battle in the heat on the court was too much for the Swiss who lost in the final against the second seeded Nadia Petrova 3-6 6-4 1-6.
The Russian, who captured the fourth singles title in her career, won the second consecutive tournament on the green clay after Amelia Island last week. ” I must say I can’t believe myself I’ve done it”, said the 23-year old Petrova, who was in trouble during the second set. “I was really feeling bad today, I think it was the heat. In the second set I had difficulties to move on court.”
In the first set Petrova broke the number three seed Swiss to a 2-1 lead and at 5-3 she broke her again to the win of the set. In the second set Patty broke her opponent in the opening game. The Russian got now problems with the heat and took a timeout. After that she failed two break chances and the Swiss won the second set 6-4. The decisive third set started after a 10-minute break in play due to the heat. Now it was the Russian who better got along with the conditions. She broke the Swiss early to a 3-0 lead. Now Patty hadn’t the power to come back and after another break to 5-1 it was over for the Swiss. With her sixth matchpoint finally Petrova finished the match.
“I feel my game is taking a new level”, said the new Champion from Russia, who will now continue her success at the european clay-courts. “I’m really looking forward to the red clay”.

“I could feel the heat but I could run and I would have been ready to go for one more hour or have tough rallies in a row,” commentated the disappointed Swiss. “But I missed too many balls and I could not handle the pressure because her strokes are so powerful and very deep.”
After 2002 against Craoatia’s Iva Majoli, the Swiss lost for the second time a final in Charleston. Even though, the Family Circle Cup is one of Pattys favourite tournaments. This year she played there for the tenth consecutive time and she said she really like this place. “I feel at home here, I wish we could play more weeks here. They make me feel at home, and it’s few weeks where you really feel that support, and I’m proud of it.” After a break of two weeks Patty will make her start in the european clay-court season at the J & S Cup in Warsaw, which starts on May 1.

Patty Schnyder reached the final at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston with an impressive three set win over the top-seeded Belgian Justine Henin-Hardenne. It was the first win for Patty over the Belgian in the seventh match against her.
Henin-Hardenne, who held a 14-0 winning record in Charleston, started well in the match and broke the Swiss already in the first game. The defending champion from Belgium was the dominating player and won the first set deserved. In the second set Henin-Hardenne got some trouble with her serve due the windy conditions. Now she just made 30 percent of her first serve in play and the Swiss got more and more the control over the match. ” I had control of the match in the first set. I was playing pretty well and then I lost a bit of my concentration for a few games”, Henin-Hardenne said. “Then the match turned completely and she was having control of the points”.
After the lost second set the heat on the court affected the Belgian physically. Henin-Hardenne still won the first game in the decisiving third set but then the Swiss won four straight games to a 4-1 lead. After that Henin-Hardenne hadn’t power enough to fight back and the Swiss was on the road to the win. “This is huge”, Patty said after the match. “I’ve never beaten her, and I think she is the greatest clay-court player there is at the moment, and I think she’s one of the greatest champions that we have in the past years, and it’s just amazing how I could come back and win it at the end”.

” It’s always disappointing to lose…but that’s tennis”, the Belgian commentated. ” That’s life. You
have to keep going”.
Patty will now play her 19th final in a WTA tournament. It will be the second final in Charleston for the Swiss. In 2002 she was the runner up to Croatia’s Iva Majoli.
The this years final opponent of the Swiss, who won 10 singles titles at the WTA tour so far, will be the second seeded Nadia Petrova. The Russian, who won three titles so far, is currently playing in great form, she won the last weeks clay-court tournament in Amelia Island. Patty met her eight times so far, the Swiss leads in the head-to head 5-3. The last two matches between them were in the end of the last year. Petrova won her first singles title in the final of the tournament in Linz against the Swiss. Two weeks later Patty took revenge at the WTA Tourchampionships in Los Angeles.

The number 3 seed Patty Schnyder showed a good performance in her quarterfinal match at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston and beat Nathalie Dechy from France 6-0 6-3. With this win the Swiss reached the semifinals in Charleston for the third consecutive time.
Differently to her matches in the previous rounds Patty started very focused in the match. After three breaks she won the first set quickly in just 26 minutes 6-0. Also in the second set the Swiss dominated her French opponent. The Swiss lefthander served well and was also successful in attacks at the net. ” I’m not really the player to attack into the net a lot, but I still like to go into the court”, said Patty. The Swiss won 10 points in 15 net approaches. “She’s always trying to play tactics against me…but if it’s not working 100 percent, she looks shaky and she loses her rhythm”, commentated the Swiss. Dechy never had a real chance at this day against a well playing Schnyder, who won the match safely after 1 hour and 13 minutes.
In her second semifinal this season, Patty will now face Justine Henin-Hardenne, who is the topseeded player in Charleston. The head-to head to the Belgian, who is unbeaten since 28 matches on clay courts, is horrible for Patty. She met Henin-Hardenne six times so far and lost all matches. “I know that it’s the greatest clay-court player that I’m playing”, said Patty about her semifinal opponent, “It’s going to be a really tough one, and I don’t know what my tactic is going to be…but definitely I’ll try everything”.

Patty Schnyder won a three set battle against Italy’s Mara Santangelo 3-6 7-6(2) 6-3 and advancend to the quarterfinals at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston. The number 3 seed Swiss had hard to work in  her first match against the 24-year old Italian, who is the number 41 in the ranking.
Like in her second round match against Meilen Tu the Swiss lefthander had trouble with her serve in the beginning of the match. She made too many errors and she lost the first set against a well playing Santangelo 3-6.
The turning point of the match came in the middle of the second set. Patty served better now and she reduced the count of her errors. ” It was really a big struggle, I didn’t feel comfortable and she played good”, said the Swiss after the match. ” I was just trying to get the balls in, to place them better, and I just stick with it, and somehow, it was my turn, and that’s what happened”. The second set had to be decided in tiebreak. Now Patty was very focused, she played out all her routine and won the tiebreaker safely 7-2. ” Of course, it was very tight. I could not have a slow start in the tiebreaker, and I knew I would be gone. So it was a lot of pressure, and still I just kept playing the points, and I mean it was very tight for me, and so I’m really happy to be through”, Schnyder commentated.
In the decisive third set the Swiss broke her opponent and after 2 hours and 4 minutes Patty finished the battle with her first match point. “Once I got a little bit more rhythm and a little bit more confidence I could really play with her and finally I got that break that helped me a lot”, said Patty.
In the quarterfinals Patty will face Nathalie Dechy from France, who is the number 8 seed in Charleston. The head-to-head is tied 2 all. It will be the first match on a clay court between them.
“I’m just very happy to be through to the quarters, and I expect a very, very tough match again tomorrow, and then we will see what’s going to happen”, said the Swiss about her next match.

In her second clay court tournament this season Patty Schnyder defeated the qualifier Meilen Tu from the US 6-4 7-5 and advancend to the third round at the Family Circle Cup in Charleston. After a first round bye the number 3 seed Swiss had more trouble as expected to beat the American who is the number 134 in the ranking.
Patty hit six aces and broke her opponent six times but especially in the second set it was hard work for the Swiss. The world number 9 was broken three times by the  California located Meilen Tu but everytime the Swiss was able to fight back. After a late break against her opponent Schnyder finished the 90 minutes lasted match. “I was not very happy with the way I played, but I got through,” said the Swiss after the match. “I’m really struggling a bit because normally here I just could place the ball anywhere I wanted and really not miss too many. So I definitely want to get that feeling back.”
In the third round Patty will face Jill Craybas from the US or Italy’s Mara Santangelo. In case she will meet Craybas, Patty should be warned. The American upset the world number 2 Kim Clijsters two weeks ago in Miami.
The Family Circle Cup is one of Pattys favourite tournaments. She is playing for the 10th consecutive time in Charleston and in Hilton Head, which was the former location of this tournament. In 2002 she was runner up to Croatia’s Iva Majoli and in the last two years she reached the semifinals.