By Glyn James
October 20 2002

Patty Schnyder has been crowned the Champion at the Swisscom challenge after defeating defending champipon Lindsay Davenport in a thrilling three setter. Schnyder describes the event as her "biggest win ever." YOU couldn't script a better story for Patty Schnyder this week, and she will no doubt be pinching herself to make sure she isn't dreaming.

Schynder had lost all five previous meetings with Lindsay Davenport, but today was to be Patty's day, and even when things looked grim, Patty dug deep and hung in there, and finally prevailed 6-7(5) 7-6(8) 6-3 to pick up her eighth career title.

A thrilled Schnyder said, "This is the biggest win of my career, I had so many emotions throughout the week, playing in front of my home crowd. It feels great to be champion here."

The match was an extremely tight one with neither player taking the initiative from the start. Both players held serve relatively comfortable at the beginning, but at 6-5, Schnyder was presented with three set points. Lindsay stormed back in true style by playing five flawless points and took the game into a tie-breaker. Patty was never ahead in the tie-break and Lindsay did just enough to take the first set.

The second set was pretty much the same. Both players appeared to be stuck in the routine of concentrating primarilly on holding serve. The second set tie-breaker was even closer than the first, with both players have chances at taking the set. It was a test of nerve for both players, but in the end, the crows support and determination of Patty Schnyder was enough to draw the match level going into the final set.

Schnyder opened the serving for the final set and Lindsay, who now appeared to be in some pain from her ankle, set out to try to break Schnyder's serve from the start. Schnyder stood strong once more though, and it was her who took the early break. The fifth game of the final set was the closest of the match. Schnyder was serving for 4-1 and Lindsay was extremely eager to break back as soon as possible. It went to 7 deuces before Davenport finally broke the deadlock along with Schnyder's serve. Davenport then served a love game in the following game, putting enormous pressure on the Schnyder serve. Once more, Schnyder was up to the task and held her nerve and serve. For the second time in the set, Schnyder was putting the Davenport serve under incredible stress. Schnyder was moving an injured Davenport around the court and then hit one of the most accurate lobs you will ever see to take the break and lead 5-3. Lindsay's last gasp attempt to salvage the match was invain as Schnyder, like a battering ram, powered her way through to take a top 16 ranking, $182,000, and a home soil title.

An optimistic Davenport stated, "This was such a close match, so many points could have changed the match, I had to come for some winners, but I also made some errors. But I'm happy that I was able to compete at a much higher level than I thought I would. So for that reason, I'm not so disappointed with the loss."

However, the injury to Davenport's ankle is enough to make her withdraw from next week's event at Linz, but she hopes to make her return for the Championships in L.A.