PENNETTA BEATS SHARAPOVA TO REACH SECOND CONSECUTIVE FINAL AT LA WOMEN'S TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS PRESENTED BY HERBALIFE

Italian Will Shoot for Eighth Career WTA Sony Ericsson Singles Title but Faces Tough Foe in Doubles Specialist Australian Stosur Who is Seeking Her First Career Singles Title

CARSON, Calif., (Saturday, Aug. 8, 2009) - Looking at the scorecard, it's a wonder Saturday evening's semifinal ever went to a third set as three-time Grand Slam champion Maria Sharapova made 61 unforced errors and had 16 double faults in a 6-2, 4-6, 6-3 error-marred loss to Italy's Flavia Pennetta at the $700,000 2009 LA Women's Tennis Championships presented by Herbalife.

The 10th seeded Pennetta meets Australian Samantha Stosur in today's final not before 2 p.m. and following the doubles final. Chia-Jung Chuang (Taipei) and Zi Yan (China) will play Maria Kirilenko (Russia) and Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) at 11:45 a.m.

"Obviously, I didn't feel physically fresh from the beginning of the match," said Sharapova. "I was surprised it went to the third. I certainly had my opportunities in the third. I just couldn't close it out."

Penetta, ranked No. 14 in the world, will be trying for her eighth career WTA Sony Ericsson singles title and only her second on the hard courts with six of her seven titles coming on clay.

In the crucial ninth game of the second set at 4-4, Sharapova fell down 40-0 after two double faults. But she rallied back to force deuce with several powerful serves and then won the game before breaking Pennetta to close out the set.

The doubles specialist Stosur has served noticed this year that her singles game is one of the best on tour as she beat 19-year-old Romanian Sorana Cirstea, 6-3, 6-2, earlier in the day in just over an hour. She will try for her first career WTA Sony Ericsson singles titles on Sunday and wants nothing more than to put the trophy next to the 22-winning doubles trophies she has collected.

The former world No. 1 doubles player beat Serena Williams last week at Stanford. "I'm not thinking about tomorrow being a final," said Stosur, who has lost in four career singles finals. "I know I have to go out there with the same mentality every time on the court and just keep playing like I've been playing."

Ranked No. 28 in the world, Cristea was hobbled by plantar fasciitis in her right foot. Said Cirstea, who could never figure out the powerful serving Stosur: "From my point of view, that's her biggest weapon. First set, I couldn't break her. Second set, I had a couple chances and I got a little frustrated because, with her, you don't get a lot of chances to break her."

Stosur captured 24 doubles crowns from 2005-08, highlighted by women's doubles titles at the 2006 French Open and 2005 U.S. Open, and mixed doubles titles at Wimbledon in 2008 and the 2005 Australian Open. Stosur is ranked No. 19 in singles, up from No. 52 at the end of 2008.

Fans attending Saturday's evening session were treated to the LA Women's Tennis Championships presented by Herbalife's annual fireworks spectacular.

Saturday's Scores

Singles, Semifinals:

Samantha Stosur (13), Australia, def. Sorana Cirstea, Romania, 6-3, 6-2

Flavia Pennetta (10), Italy def. Maria Sharapova, Russia, 6-2, 4-6, 6-3

Doubles, Semifinals:

Chia-Jung Chuang (Taipei) / Zi Yan (China) def. Vania King (USA) / Monica Niculescu (Romania), 1-6, 6-2, 11-9

Maria Kirilenko (Russia) / Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland) def. [4] Su-Wei Hsieh (Taipei) / Shuai Peng (China), 6-1, 6-2

Sunday's Schedule

ORDER OF PLAY - SUNDAY, AUGUST 9, 2009

Stadium Court, Finals

11:45 a.m.
Chia-Jung Chuang (Taipei) / Zi Yan (China) vs. Maria Kirilenko (Russia) / Agnieszka Radwanska (Poland)

Not Before 2:00 p.m.
[13] Samantha Stosur (Australia) vs. [10] Flavia Pennetta (Italy)

Post-Match Quotes

Flavia Pennetta:

"It's kind of strange because I've never won here until last year. Nothing special, I just like this tournament and the (slow) court here. That's why I played good tennis.

"In the second set I lost a lot of chances. I was supposed to finish it, but she started to play more aggressive. In the third, I started to have problems with my serve. I think we both did.

"I'm pretty happy because I didn't really play as well as yesterday, but I still came through with this match."

On Sharapova's problems serving:

"Of course she's going to be frustrated because she's one of the best servers on the tour. She's going to start serving like always again.

"Playing against her I have to be very aggressive. In the first, I went toward the net and it worked very well. In the second, I tried to wait for her mistakes. That's when I had problems.

"I was thinking too much about her. My coach told me to focus on my game and not worry about what she way doing."

"Tomorrow is gong to be very tough for me because (Samantha Stosur) is coming from a good result last week and this week. I have to serve much better. I still have to be very, very aggressive. I can't give her a lot of time to do her game. I have to do my game."

"Maybe three or four years ago I didn't play a lot of matches against the best players. Now, I'm starting to play a lot against them and I'm getting used to it."

Maria Sharapova:

"Obviously, I didn't feel physically fresh from the beginning of the match. I was surprised it went to the third. I certainly had my opportunities in the third. I just couldn't close it out.

"Obviously, you always think positive. I tried to be more aggressive. I was making too many errors off the forehand and the backhand side. I wasn't reading the game well in the beginning. I slowly started reading her better and I was lucky to win the second set. I think in the third it could have gone any way, but it just didn't go my way today.

"I'm certainly not losing any confidence. These are pretty darn good accomplishments. Am I happy where I am? Absolutely not. There's still a lot of work to do and a lot of tweaks to make. It's going to take time. It's going to take a while to reach that perfection.

Trying to hit 30-ball rallies against a good runner like her? That's a dumb game plan. I wanted to attack and I wanted to be aggressive, and sometime that causes for more errors."

"I felt like my energy kind of dropped in that third match. In the quarters I didn't."

"It's so weird to wake up and say my bicep or my shoulder is sore. I've never had that before. It's really new territory for me. But, after every tournament I'm starting to feel better. This is still a work in progress. I'd sometimes like to forget that I was gone for a long time, but you have to put things in perspective."

"I'm pretty pleased with the way I've been able to keep my head up, stay steady and figure out in the match what I have to do. I've had to figure out what ‘Plan B' is if ‘Plan A' didn't work."

"In my first few tournaments back my serve wasn't working very well. I've been doing pretty well with that now. I'd still like to be able to move a little bit better and I'd still like to improve on my serve."

Samantha Stosur:

"I thought I had good variety on my serve today and I hit some serves that I felt she really wasn't able to pick up on.

"I felt I played a very good match. Overall, it was a very good day for me today.

"I'm not thinking about tomorrow being a final. I know I have to go out there with the same mentality every time on the court and just keep playing like I've been playing.

"I think I have a good chance (tomorrow). I've played (Maria) quite a few times and haven't been able to beat her. We've played a couple of three-setters in there. We haven't played in a little while. I've gotten better. I've never played (Flavia) Pennetta. I might watch a little bit of it tonight. Whoever I play tomorrow, I'm going to go in there and play my game and do it as best as I can and hope that's going to be enough.

(On Sharapova's service problems on Friday night)

"I only saw the last game and the commentators were talking about it a lot, but I don't know. She's got a very good serve and she still is a great champion. She knows she can hit it. I don't think it will be a problem for her (in the final). I do hope to get a few more second-serve return chances out of it."

"I've done a lot better closing out matches and not letting leads slip.

"My whole career, I've been trying to get to this point. At 25, and looking at a lot of the girls who are 18, 19 and have got there (to singles finals), maybe some think I've gotten here late, but I don't think of it that way. At age 25, I'd like to think I can handle it better then if I were 18 or 19. I'm just going to enjoy it, now that it's come.

"Women's tennis in Australia has kind of lagged behind the men for a while but I think we're kind of taking that lead now."

Sorana Cirstea:

(On her plantar fasciitis in her right foot:)

"It did affect me. Yesterday, when I did the movement (to aggravate the pain), it was 6-all (in the first set). Today, I went on the court not so sure about how I was going to move and get the balls, and Sam played great and did a good job of not letting me get to her balls.

"I was just lying in bed the whole afternoon trying to get ready for the match. I had no thoughts about pulling out from the match. I had a good week and I need to learn to take the positive out of this. "It's a good start to the hardcourt season. Hopefully, I can be healthy and put the right performance out there.

"I wanted to play better today and, I have to be honest … I don't know if I could do much more. I need to rest. I had the ultrasound the day before yesterday (Thursday) and my plantar fasciitis is inflamed. The only thing is if I can play with the pain or handle the pain. It can't get any worse. There is nothing more wrong with it. That's what kept me in the match yesterday (Friday), knowing this.

(On Stosur's serve:)

"From my point of view, that's her biggest weapon. First set, I couldn't break her. Second set, I had a couple chances and I got a little frustrated because, with her, you don't get a lot of chances to break her."

Tickets & Daily Promotions

Individual tickets, starting at just $35, are on sale now at www.latennischamps.com, 1-877-AEG-TICKETS (1-877-234-8425) and all Ticketmaster outlets, including www.Ticketmaster.com. Fans can enjoy daily promotions and events, including:

Sunday: Finals and Dunlop hat giveaway

LA Women's Tennis Championships Television Times

All Times Pacific; Tennis Channel

Sunday, Aug. 9
5:00 AM (TAPE)

Sunday, Aug. 9
6:30 PM (DELAY)

Sunday, Aug. 9
9:00 PM (TAPE)

Monday, Aug. 10
9:30 PM (TAPE)

Tuesday, Aug. 11
1:00 PM (TAPE)

Wednesday, Aug. 12
10:00 PM (TAPE)