The Hindu : Sport / Tennis : Mahesh Bhupathi-Mark Knowles lift Swiss Indoor crown

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Mahesh Bhupathi-Mark Knowles lift Swiss Indoor crown

TENNIS / Hat-trick win for Federer; Murray, Soderling clinch titles

— PHOTO: AP

CHAMPION: Roger Federer holds his trophy after winning the Swiss Indoors tournament.

Basel: India’s Mahesh Bhupathi and partner Mark Knowles of the Bahamas defeated Christopher Kas and Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany in straight sets to lift the ATP Swiss Indoor doubles title here on Sunday. The Indo-Bahamian pair won 6-3, 6-3 to pocket 46,500 euros in prize money.

Roger Federer won his hometown tournament for a record third straight year by beating Argentine second seed David Nalbandian 6-3, 6-4 in the singles final.

The World No. 2 broke Nalbandian once in each set, easing through a one-sided encounter to maintain his dominance at the tournament where he once worked as a ball boy.

Nalbandian came into the match with a relatively impressive record of eight wins from 17 previous meetings with the Swiss 13-time Grand Slam champion, but never looked likely to celebrate a ninth victory on Sunday.

Federer’s service game was particularly impressive with the top seed producing eight aces and dropping just seven points on serve as he wrapped up his 57th career title without handing a single break point to his opponent.

“I am overjoyed,” said Federer after punching the air to rapturous applause from his home crowd at the end of the match.

Bopanna-Mirnyi lose

At St. Petersburg, Rohan Rohan Bopanna and his Belarussian partner Max Mirnyi squandered a set’s advantage to go down 6-3, 6-7(4), 8-10 to Travis Parrott of the US and Filip Polasek of Slovakia in the doubles final of the St. Petersburg Open. In the singles final, top-seeded Andy Murray beat Andrey Golubev 6-1, 6-1 to win the title for the second straight year.

At Lyon, Swedish seventh seed Robin Soderling saw off unseeded Frenchman Julien Benneteau 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-1 to win the 713,000 euros Lyon ATP final.

Ivanovic bags title

At Linz, Ana Ivanovic claimed her first title since she lifted the French Open trophy in June, beating second-seeded Vera Zvonareva of Russia 6-2, 6-1 to win the WTA Linz Open.

At Luxembourg, Russia’s Olympic champion Elena Dementieva clinched the Luxembourg WTA title on Sunday but the top seed needed three hours to see off Danish fourth seed Caroline Wozniacki 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(4).

The results (finals):

At Basel (Swiss Indoors): Singles: Roger Federer bt David Nalbandian 6-3, 6-4. D oubles: Mahesh Bhupathi & Mark Knowles bt Christopher Kas & Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 6-3.

At Lyon (Lyon Grand Prix): Robin Soderling bt Julien Benneteau 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-1.

At St. Petersburg (St. Petersburg Open): Singles: Andy Murray bt Andrey Golubev 6-1, 6-1. Doubles: Travis Parrott & Filip Polasek bt Rohan Bopanna & Max Mirnyi 6-3, 6-7(4), 8-10.

At Linz (Generali Ladies Open): Ana Ivanovic bt Vera Zvonareva 6-2, 6-1.

At Luxembourg (WTA Fortis Championships): Elena Dementieva bt Caroline Wozniacki 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(4). — Agencies

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