Farina Elia wins third Strasbourg title in a row

By Chris Davies
May 24 2003

Silivia Farina Elia claimed the Strasbourg title for the third successive year has she beat a very dangerous opponent Karolina Sprem.

Sprem has beaten top players this week including Jelena Dokic and Vera Zvonareva yesterday could have easily beaten Farina Elia. The giantkilling Croatian had played eight hours on court and it clearly showed losing the first set 6-3 coming back in the second 6-4 to go into a decider.

Farina Elia will not play here next year because she is happy at winning it three times "I will stop because three is a good number. There is a saying in Italy that says, Never two without three".

The Italian was very sharp throughout the match and that won her the title again over a very unexperienced newcomer who is only ranked in the top 170 has proved she will be very tricky in the big tournaments.


Final Result

(7) Silvia Farina Elia (ITA) bt Karolina Sprem (CRO)
6-3, 4-6, 6-4