Robby Ginepri, who was laid low by a burst appendix earlier this year, won his second Indianapolis title on Sunday with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over third seeded compatriot Sam Querrey.
The 62-minute win repeated the triumph that Ginepri enjoyed four years ago and was the third title of his career.
Ginepri, who missed two months of the season and lost nearly 15kg in weight following appendix surgery, had not reached a semi-final before this week since Las Vegas in March last year.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Querrey has now lost in finals in his last two events after going down a fortnight ago on grass in Newport to Rajeev Ram.
Ginepri out-aced the usually big-hitting Querrey, firing four aces and 13 winners, while Querrey dropped nine costly double faults.
After playing only 21 matches this season, he was unsure of his chances of getting back into the top 20 where he stood in 2005 after winning Indy for the first time.
The title was Ginepri’s third after Indy 2005 and Newport 2003.
He broke serve twice in an opening set that lasted 26 minutes, then secured the upset by coming back from 40-0 down in the 11th game of the second.
■GERMAN OPEN
AP, HAMBURG, GERMANY
Nikolay Davydenko beat Paul-Henri Mathieu 6-4, 6-2 on Sunday to win the German Open, his first title of the year.
The second-seeded Davydenko captured the 15th title of his career and became the first Russian to win the clay-court tournament.
Mathieu, the 13th-seeded Frenchman, was playing his first final of the year.
Davydenko last won a title in Warsaw 13 months ago. Injuries forced him to miss close to four months at the start of the season.
The 28-year-old Russian fell behind 3-1 but won five of the next six games to clinch the set. Mathieu gained an early break in the second, only to see Davydenko storm back to win the final five games.
■GASTEIN LADIES
AP, BAD GASTEIN, AUSTRIA
Andrea Petkovic of Germany beat Ioana Raluca Olaru of Romania 6-2, 6-3 on Sunday to capture her first career WTA Tour title at the Nuernberger Gastein Ladies.
The 98th-ranked Petkovic has won eight titles on the lower ranked ITF circuit but had never before reached a WTA quarterfinal.
Petkovic tore ligaments in her right knee at the Australian Open last year and was out for eight months.
The No. 66 Olaru, who upset top-seeded Alize Cornet in Saturday’s semifinals, also played her first career final.
She had won both previous clay-court matches against Petkovic but struggled throughout this time.
■SLOVENIA OPEN
REUTERS, PORTOROZ, SLOVENIA
Russian world No. 1 Dinara Safina beat Italian Sara Errani 6-7, 6-1, 7-5 to win the Slovenia Open tournament on Sunday.
“You [Errani] were a hard time for me but I really wanted to win this tournament,” Safina told reporters.
Fifth seed and world No. 38 Errani initially looked to have got the better of Safina when she took the first set 7-6.
The 23-year-old Russian, who sailed into the finals without losing a set, increased the pressure in the second set to win four straight games and lead 5-1.
Bayer 04 Leverkusen go into today’s match at TSG 1899 Hoffenheim stung from their first league defeat in 16 months. Leverkusen were beaten 3-2 at home by RB Leipzig before the international break, the first loss since May last year for the reigning league and cup champions. While any defeat, particularly against a likely title rival, would have disappointed coach Xabi Alonso, the way in which it happened would be most concerning. Just as they did in the Supercup against VfB Stuttgart and in the league opener to Borussia Moenchengladbach, Leverkusen scored first, but were pegged back. However, while Leverkusen rallied late to
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