MONDAY, 1.00PM:
SOUTH AFRICA’S Amanda Coetzer lost 6-2 4-6 6-3 to world’s second-ranked player, Jana Novotna, in the final of the $450 000 Leipzig Open in Leipzig, Germany on Sunday.
Coetzer qualified for the final after she ousted top-ranked Swiss sensation Martina Hingis in the semi-finals.
“I’m not a machine, it rarely happens to me that there’s an opponent across the net who can play me even,” said Hingis of her three-set loss — which was the biggest upset of the tournament.
Meanwhile, Coetzer has dismmised suggestions that she only beat Hingis because Hingis was tired. “I don’t agree she was below par in our match, but then it is a long time since I last played her — that was in the Hopman Cup in Australia in January,” she said.
Coetzer is likely to move to No 4 in the world rankings after her impressive perfomance in Germany.