Schnyder of Switzerland upsets Nagyova to win Volvo Women's Open

<br>PATTAYA, Thailand (AP) _ In an upset, Patty Schnyder of Switzerland on Sunday defeated second-seeded Henrieta Nagyova of Slovakia 6-0, 6-4 to win the dlrs 110,000 Volvo Womens Open singles. <br><br>The

Sunday, November 11th 2001, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

PATTAYA, Thailand (AP) _ In an upset, Patty Schnyder of Switzerland on Sunday defeated second-seeded Henrieta Nagyova of Slovakia 6-0, 6-4 to win the dlrs 110,000 Volvo Womens Open singles.

The 22-year-old Swiss left-hander, ranked 49th in the world, displayed dazzling crosscourt groundstrokes to beat her 22nd-ranked opponent, whom she'd never beaten in their five previous encounters.

Schnyder, who was seeded seventh, started in high gear, taking the opening set 6-0 while Nagyova struggled to keep the ball in court.

Nagyova, the 1997 Volvo Women's Open champion, gained some momentum at the start of the second set until Schnyder won three games in a row to surge ahead at 5-2.

The Slovak battled back to 4-5 but at the crunch Schnyder proved more consistent at the baseline. She won on her first championship point with an impressive crosscourt backhand.

``I thought it was going to be (a) tough three sets but it was easier than I expected,'' Schnyder said. ``I played well from the beginning and never let her play her game.''

It was Schnyder's seventh career title and her first in nearly three years.

Nagyova said that she'd been suffering a stomach problem since Saturday and was not at the top of her game as a result. A similar problem forced her out of last year's championship.

``But Schnyder played unbelievably. She was the one who put pressure on me,'' Nagyova said.

In the doubles final, the second-seeded pairing of Iroda Tulyaganova of Uzbekistan and Asa Carlsson of Sweden beat the top seeds Wynne Prakusya of Indonesia and Liezel Huber of South Africa 4-6, 6-3, 6-3.