The Hindu : Sport : Davenport collects 55th career title

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Davenport collects 55th career title

‘Lucky loser’ Stakhovsky takes trophy

— Photo: AP

KING NICOLAS: Nicolas Almagro, wearing a traditional Mexican Charro hat, with the trophy after winning the Mexico Tennis Open.

MEMPHIS: Fourth seed Lindsay Davenport won her 55th career WTA title by overpowering Olga Govortsova 6-2, 6-1 in the final of the WTA/ATP Memphis hardcourt tournament on Saturday.

Davenport, who opened her season with a win in Auckland, earned $28,000 after breaking the Belarussian five times and winning in exactly one hour.

The 31-year-old Davenport, who improved her match record to 13-2 this season;’ said: “to win here in the States and to play as well as I did to win gives me a lot of confidence,” Davenport said. “I’m just happy I won the title in Memphis.”

Davenport returned to competition after the birth of her first child in June. During a remarkable run of late, the former No. 1 has risen from 234th to 46th in the WTA rankings.

Playing in her first American tournament since the 2006 U.S. Open, Davenport was playing the 19-year-old Govortsova for the first time. Govortsova had defeated 2007 finalist Shahar Peer in the semifinals.

Soderling stuns Stepanek

On the men’s side, Sweden’s Robin Soderling, who out-gunned top-seeded American Andy Roddick in the quarterfinals on Friday, knocked off Czech Radek Stepanek 7-6(2), 6-3.

Belgian Steve Darcis rallied to beat Swedish veteran Jonas Bjorkman 4-6, 6-1, 6-4 in the other semifinal.

“I feel very good and I love to play here,” said Soderling, who has yet to be broken in 35 service games.

“The centre court suits my game and I played some really good matches here two years ago when I reached the final.”

In six tournaments, since returning in September, Davenport has gone 24-2 and claimed three other titles — at Bali, Quebec City and Auckland.

First ATP title

At Zagreb, Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine won his initial ATP title with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over top-seeded Ivan Ljubicic on Saturday, becoming the first “lucky loser” to win a tour crown in 17 years.

The 22-year-old, 209th-ranked Stakhovsky faced only one break point, converted two of five of his own break opportunities, and prevailed in 1 hour, 49 minutes.

He improved to 5-0 this season and became the first player to win a tour event after advancing from qualifying as a lucky loser since Argentine Christian Miniussi won in Sao Paulo in 1991.

Fourth man in history

Stakhovsky, who came into the tournament with a career 6-13 match record, is only the fourth man in the history of the tour to achieve the feat.

He had not played on the main tour since San Jose more than a year ago and his previous best showing in eight attempts was a quarterfinal appearance in Milan in 2005.

Ljubicic was his third seeded victim, having also beaten No. 2 Ivo Karlovic and No. 8 Janko Tipsarevic.

Almagro’s memorable triumph

At Acapulco, Spain’s Nicolas Almagro upset favourite David Nalbandian of Argentina and Italy’s top-seeded Flavia Pennetta defeated France’s Alize Cornet to take the singles titles at the Mexican Open on Saturday.

Sixth-seeded Almagro won in straight sets 6-1, 7-6(1) against top-seeded Nalbandian, acing him 12 times.

“When you can’t defeat someone’s tennis, you have to win on attitude. I went out swinging from the first point, based my attack on my serve, on my aggressive game and that has been one of the keys that made the difference,” Almagro said after the match.

The results: At Memphis (Memphis championships): Women: Final: Lindsay Davenport bt Olga Govortsova 6-2, 6-1

Men: Semifinals: Steve Darcis bt Jonas Bjorkman 4-6, 6-1, 6-4; Robin Soderling bt Radek Stepanek 7-6(2), 6-3.

At Acapulco (Acapulco International championships): Men: Final: Nicolas Almagro bt David Nalbandian 6-1, 7-6(1).

Women: Final: Flavia Pennetta bt Alize Cornet 6-0, 4-6, 6-1.

At Zagreb (ATP Zagreb Indoors): Final: Sergiy Stakhovsky bt Ivan Ljubicic 7-5, 6-4.

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