Elena Dementieva successfully defended her Sydney International title on yesterday, leaving Serena Williams with injury concerns just days from the Australian Open.
The Russian fifth seed was always in control of the final, winning 6-3, 6-2 in just 75 minutes, but the world No. 1 was clearly inconvenienced by a troublesome left knee she had strapped for the match.
Williams, who is going into next week’s opening Grand Slam as defending champion, was unusually subdued during the final.
The match ended in an anti-climax, with Dementieva holding three match-points on Williams’ serve and thumping a return winner for the championship.
It was Dementieva’s 15th career title and she became the first player to win back-to-back titles in Sydney since Martina Hingis in 2001-2002.
The Russian has now won six of her last seven finals and it was her fifth victory against Williams in 12 encounters. She beat Williams in the semi-finals of last year’s event.
Dementieva broke Williams’ serve five times and dominated the points, 70-47.
It is Dementieva’s first tournament of the year and this time last year she had won her opening two tournaments, going on to win her first 15 matches of the season.
The defeat continued Williams’ run of outs at the Sydney International. It was her first final after three previous losing semi-final appearances at the tournament.
Meanwhile in the men’s singles, Marcos Baghdatis will play Frenchman Richard Gasquet in today’s final after a titanic semi-final yesterday.
The 42nd-ranked Cypriot, an Australian Open finalist, battled for almost three hours before beating Marty Fish of the US 6-4, 6-7 (7/9), 7-6 (7/5).
Baghdatis, who lost to Roger Federer in the 2006 Australian Open final, waged a desperate struggle with Fish before claiming his eighth career final appearance on his fourth match-point.
Gasquet reached his first Sydney final after a 6-3, 7-5 win over fellow Frenchman Julien Benneteau.
■HEINEKEN OPEN
REUTERS, AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND
Crowd favorite John Isner advanced to his second career ATP Tour final yesterday with a 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) victory over Spanish eighth seed Albert Montanes.
Isner, who knocked out top seed Tommy Robredo on Thursday, again used his booming serve to nullify the speedy Montanes, notching up 14 aces in the process.
The 2.05m-tall American set up a final against experienced French campaigner Arnaud Clement with his first victory all week that did not require a third set.
The 24-year-old American, who also beat Montanes in Auckland last year, seized both of his break opportunities to romp away with the first set.
The Spaniard, however, was more resilient in the second, fending off four break opportunities to send it into a tie-break, though Isner said he felt that he was always likely to win the shootout.
“I served really well,” he said. “Probably the best I served all tournament and that was key. I told myself in the second set that if it went to a tie-break I fancied my chances.”
The 32-year-old Clement advanced to his 11th career final when he upset 2008 champion Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 7-6 (7/5).
Clement, who won his fourth and most recent ATP Tour title in Washington in 2006, controlled the tempo of the match and ran the fifth-seeded German around the court with clever stroke-play.
■HOBART INTERNATIONAL
REUTERS, SYDNEY
Ukraine’s Alona Bondarenko upset top seed Anabel Medina Garrigues yesterday to join Israel’s Shahar Peer in the final of the Hobart International.
Bondarenko recovered after losing the first set to beat the Spaniard 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 and reach her first WTA final since 2007.
Peer booked her passage to the final with a 6-2, 6-0 thrashing of Italy’s Sara Errani, continuing her good early season form after reaching the semi-finals in Auckland last week.
■KOOYONG CLASSIC
AFP, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA
Fernando Gonzalez wound up his Australian Open preparations with a defeat of Ivan Ljubicic 6-4, 7-6 (9/7) in relegation-round play at the Kooyong Classic yesterday.
The program was reduced to the Gonzalez-Ljubicic match after Juan Martin del Potro withdrew on Thursday from his semi-final against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the eight-man event. Tsonga played a practice match against Tommy Haas, defeating the veteran German 6-4, 6-3.
Tsonga, the 2008 Australian Open finalist, will play for the title today against Spain’s Fernando Verdasco.
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