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Red-hot del Potro captures fourth ATP title in a row

Juan Martin del Potro serves to Viktor Troicki during the final of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington on Sunday. PHOTO: AP

Juan Martin del Potro won his fourth title in as many weeks by beating Viktor Troicki 6-3, 6-3 in the final of the Legg Mason Classic on Sunday.

The second-seeded Argentine continued his superb summer run by winning his 19th-straight match.

“Today I was very, very nervous because I was the favorite to win the tournament,” del Potro said. “In a final, if you play your best you can win, for sure, but I think today I played more with my mind than my body.”

He dispatched Troicki in just over 90 minutes, hammering five aces and saving six of seven break point opportunities.

Del Potro has now won tournaments in Stuttgart, Kitzbuhel, Los Angeles and Washington.

This was his first career meeting against Troicki, who is ranked 93rd and was playing in his first ATP final.

“I am pretty sad that maybe I could not be quite at 100 percent today but he played great, winning another title,” Troicki said.

The 19-year-old Potro has won 37 of his last 39 sets during his breakthrough stretch on the tour.



■PETROVA TAKES TITLE

AFP, CINCINNATI, OHIO

Russia’s Nadia Petrova dominated Nathalie Dechy 6-2, 6-1 in the final of the WTA Western and Southern Financial Group Open for her first title of the year.

The second-seeded Russian posted her first victory since February of last year in Paris.

She needed just 70 minutes to dispatch Dechy.

Petrova broke Dechy’s serve six times in improving to 6-2 lifetime against the Frenchwoman.

Petrova fired three aces and saved four of 10 break point chances. She also won 69 percent of her first serve points and attacked Dechy’s second serve.

Petrova hopes to carry the momentum over from Cincinnati into the final major championship of the year — the US Open which begins in eight days.

There were signs Petrova was closing in on her first title of the year after the Russian reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon earlier this summer.

Her win ended a remarkable run by Dechy who reached her first final in four years.
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