The Hindu : Sport : Dementieva stuns Serena for title; Djokovic is champion in Vienna

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Monday, Oct 15, 2007
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Dementieva stuns Serena for title; Djokovic is champion in Vienna

MOSCOW: Elena Dementieva of Russia clinched her eighth career title and second this year, beating fourth seed Serena Williams of the United States in the final of the Kremlin Cup here on Sunday.

Dementieva, twice runner-up here in 2001 and 2004, defeated Williams for the first time in five meetings 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 and will regain a place in the world’s top 10.

Incredible feeling

“It’s an incredible feeling when you win at home,” Dementieva said.

“I’m so happy with myself to win here and even more happy to bring joy to my fans, who supported me throughout the event.”

Dementieva broke early in the match, but Serena took three consecutive games for a 4-2 lead.

String of errors

The 25-year-old Russian broke again in the seventh to level at four games all only to throw away the 12th and the set with a string of errors.

In the second, the 26-year-old American suddenly ran out of gas, while the crowd favourite picked up steam and produced three breaks to level at one set all after one hour 13 minutes on court.

Serena, seventh in the WTA rankings, broke immediately into the deciding set but it was her last success in the match as Dementieva replied positively taking six consecutive games to clinch the title.

Dementieva pocketed a prize purse of $182,000, while runner-up Serena, who fired seven aces but committed 59 unforced errors in the match, received $97,800.

“She played an unbelievable game!” Williams said of Dementieva’s performance. “She should try to play like that more often.”

She also blamed herself for a poor performance. “I’ve made a lot of errors,” she added.

Fifth title of season

In the final of the BA-CA Tennis Trophy, top-seeded Novak Djokovic beat Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4, 6-0 for his fifth ATP title of the season.

“Great to win another title,” Djokovic said. “I was good in the first set, but I played some incredible tennis in the second.” It was the seventh overall title for the third-ranked Serb.

Djokovic used his only break chance to take the lead in the first set, but had to save a break point while serving at 5-4.

Wawrinka lost serve again in the opening game of the second set as he netted a backhand. The 41st-ranked Swiss scored only four points in the second set, which lasted just over 20 minutes.

Karlovic wins

At Stockholm, Ivo Karlovic denied the Swedish home-court dream of Thomas Johansson 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 on Sunday, winning the Stockholm Open to join Roger Federer as the only man with trophies on three surfaces this season.

The towering 2.08-metre Croatian seventh seed overpowered Sweden’s two time champion, who lifted the honours in 2000 and 2004 but could not compete in a blow-out third set.

The Croatian 28-year-old padded his leading tally of 1,018 aces in 2007 as he takes aim at the all-time best set in 1996 by compatriot Goran Ivanisevic of 1,477.

Easy for Pennetta

At Bangkok, seventh seed Flavia Pennetta of Italy easily captured the Bangkok Open title with a 6-1, 6-3 drubbing of Taiwan’s Chan Yung-Jan on Sunday.

Chan, making her WTA finals debut, proved little competition for the battled-tested Italian who had scored a stunning semifinal defeat of Venus Williams and a quarterfinal comeback against 16th-ranked Israeli Shahar Peer.

The results : At Vienna (ATP BA-CA Trophy): Final: Novak Djokovic bt Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4, 6-0.

At Moscow (ATP & WTA Kremlin Cup): Women: Final: Elena Dementieva bt Serena Williams 5-7, 6-1, 6-1.

Men: Final: Nikolay Davydenko bt Paul-Henri Mathieu 7-5, 7-6. Semifinals: Paul-Henri Mathieu bt Michael Berrer 7-5 6-3; Nikolay Davydenko bt Janko Tipsarevic 7-6(6), 6-1.

At Stockholm: (ATP Stockholm Open): Final: Ivo Karlovic bt Thomas Johansson 6-3, 3-6, 6-1.

At Bangkok (WTA Bangkok Open): Final: Flavia Pennetta bt Chan Yung-Jan 6-1, 6-3. — Agencies

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