The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Paes and Dlouhy win doubles crown

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Paes and Dlouhy win doubles crown

Tsonga bests Djokovic for maiden tour title

BANGKOK: Leander Paes and Lukas Dlouhy won their first ATP title together beating the American pair of Scott Lipsky and David Martin in straight sets in the doubles final of the $76,000 Thailand Open here on Sunday.

The top-seeded Indo-Czech pair defeated their unseeded opponents 6-4, 7-6(4) in one hour and 16 minutes to emerge champions in the hard court event.

The winners played a solid service game and converted two of the four break points en route to their win. Paes, who now has 40 ATP doubles title in his cupboard, had earlier won the Thailand Open along with Australian partner Paul Hanley in 2005.

Paes and Dlouhy had joined forces for the first time at Roland Garros in May and have since reached the finals of Halle and the U.S. Open. They also reached semifinals of Wimbledon.

Praise

Paes praised his partner saying he was learning from him. “It’s always special stepping on the court with Lukas because not only does he complement my style of playing but he’s also teaching me things.

“After playing for so many years, to have a partner who’s also teaching me a few things is really beautiful,” Paes said after the win. “It is special and I think that one of the things I like to do is see my partner win a lot more. This is the challenge for me because I know if he’s winning I’m winning too.

“I’m trying to step up Lukas, this is the fifth one that he’s won, so now I’m trying to step up his wins because then mine will go up automatically,” he added.

Revenge

Meanwhile, second-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga won his maiden tour title after beating top seed Novak Djokovic 7-6(4), 6-4.

Tsonga exacted revenge for his loss in the Australian Open final with a determined performance to deny the Serb his fourth title of the year.

The $576,000 Bangkok tournament was only the Frenchman’s second since returning from a three-month layoff following knee surgery. In a battle of big-hitters, Tsonga overcame a hail of topspin forehands from Djokovic, picking off the World No. 3 with a combination of powerful serves and inch-perfect drop shots.

Roddick, Jankovic win

At Beijing, Andy Roddick held off a fierce challenge from Israeli underdog Dudi Sela to win the China Open for his third ATP title of the year.

Big-serving Roddick, the second seed at the $524,000 tournament, overcame 92-ranked Sela, playing in his first ATP final, 6-4, 6-7(6), 6-3.

Pushed throughout by his unfancied opponent, Roddick served for the match at 6-4 in the second set tie-break but Sela played a gentle pick-up shot at the net to take the point, recovering to win 8-6.

In the third and deciding set, Sela, who showed a willingness to come in throughout the match, continued to impress with the range of his shot-making, but could not force the break from Roddick.

Instead it was the World No. 8 who made the crucial breakthrough in the sixth game and despite further scares, he took the set 6-3 in a match lasting two hours.

Women’s top seed Jelena Jankovic powered to the title, thumping Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 6-2.

Kirilenko triumphs

Top-seeded Maria Kirilenko of Russia defeated unseeded Australian Samantha Stosur 2-6, 6-1, 6-4, to win the WTA Korea Open in Seoul on Sunday.

It was the Russian’s third win on the WTA circuit in 2008. She had lost to Venus Williams at last year’s Korea Open final.

Serving for the match at 5-4 in the third set, Kirilenko won the decisive game without conceding a point, as Stosur’s backhand return missed the mark on the last play.

After the two players traded the first two sets, Kirilenko raced to a 4-0 lead in the third, breaking Stosur twice with an array of winning shots.

But Stosur proceeded to take the next three games and then overcame a 15-30 deficit to make it 5-4.

But Stosur was no match in the final game and her shots fell flat in long rallies.

The results (all finals):

At Bangkok: ATP Thailand Open: Singles: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga bt Novak Djokovic 7-6(4), 6-4.