BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) -- Magdalena Maleeva from Bulgaria on Sunday met with stiff resistance before she fought down Anne Kremer of Luxembourg 3-6, 6-2, 6-4 to win the $110,000 Colortex Budapest Grand Prix women's claycourt tournament.
It was a difficult match for Maleeva, 26, the youngest of three tennis-playing sisters as her balls often came back from Kremer like from a brick wall.
Maleeva, who is currently 17th on the WTA list, and her opponent played long rallies and precise spectacular baseline shots in the match that lasted for over 2 1/2 hours.
"It is always a pleasure to be number-one seed in a tournament, and I am very proud of myself," Maleeva said.
"I think we played a good match, and my congratulations go to Magdalena," Kremer, 32nd in the world, said after the match.
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) -- The first two seeds, Magdalena Maleeva from Bulgaria and Anne Kremer from Luxembourg, both easily won their semifinal matches against unseeded opponents in two sets Saturday in the $110,000 Colortex Budapest Grand Prix women's Clay-court tournament.
No. 1 seed Maleeva, who is 17th on the WTA list, dominated throughout the match with precise baseline shots and occasional drop-shots against Spain's Cristina Torrens-Valero, who is 71st.
The winner of the other semifinals was not in question from the first moment of play, either. Second-seeded Kremer stopped the young Hungarian tennis promise Aniko Kapros.
Kapros, 17, who got a wild card from the organizers, played very nervously, making many unforced errors.
This was the first two-set match of the tournament for Kremer, 32nd in the world, who had a "Hungarian week," having played against Hungarians three matches out of her total four.
BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) -- Top seed Magdalena Maleeva from Bulgaria needed less than an hour Thursday to crush Adriana Gersi from the Czech Republic 6-1, 6-1 and secure a berth in the quarterfinals of the $110,000 Colortex Budapest Grand Prix WTA tournament.
The Bulgarian, ranked 17th in the world, will next face the Italian Francesca Schiavone.