Elena Dementieva of Russia came from a set down to defeat Czech Lucie Safarova 6-7, 6-1, 6-4 to win the Paris Indoor Open on Sunday.
The Czech broke Dementieva’s opening service game but the top seed broke back. It was Safarova who showed the cooler nerve in the tiebreak, taking it 7-5.
Dementieva came back powerfully in the second set, though, twice breaking serve.
The Russian cranked up the pressure in the seventh game to break for a 4-3 lead.
Safarova saved two championship points in her next service game and a third on Dementieva’s serve. But the Russian made no mistake with her fourth.
■ABN AMRO TOURNAMENT
REUTERS, ROTTERDAM, THE NETHERLANDS
Swedish third seed Robin Soderling clinched the ABN AMRO World Indoor Tournament title when Mikhail Youzhny withdrew injured in the final on Sunday.
Youzhny had complained about a slight leg injury after his win over Novak Djokovic in the semis. However, the Russian began the final by breaking Soderling’s service game.
The Swede recovered immediately, breaking Youzhny twice to take the first set 6-4 and after an early break in the second left him 2-0 down the Russian gave up.
■SAP OPEN
REUTERS , SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA
Fernando Verdasco upset top seed Andy Roddick 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 to win the SAP Open on Sunday.
Roddick started well, breaking his Spanish opponent twice to win the first set.
But after being broken early in the second, Roddick received a code violation for belting a ball way up into the stands when he missed a passing shot.
He fought off two set points at 5-4, but second seed Verdasco sealed the second set with an ace.
The two went it at tooth and nail in the third set, but the Spaniard broke to lead 5-4 and served out the match with another ace.
Barcelona’s Ferran Torres scored twice on Sunday to help secure a late 4-2 comeback win at Atletico Madrid in a pulsating La Liga clash that took the Catalan side back to the top of the table. Barca have 60 points and a game in hand after last week’s postponement of their home game with CA Osasuna. They are level on points with Real Madrid, who won 2-1 at Villarreal on Saturday. “I am happy and proud of this team,” Barcelona head coach Hansi Flick told a news conference. “They never give up... It’s a great three points and we are happy to
Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday held their nerve to beat Liverpool 4-1 on penalties and reach the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals after their tie finished one-apiece on aggregate, while Bayern Munich saw off Bayer 04 Leverkusen to complete a 5-0 win over both legs. Lamine Yamal and Raphinha fired Barcelona into the next round as the Catalans bested SL Benfica 3-1, and Inter booked a last-eight meeting with Bayern by seeing off Feyenoord 2-1. At Anfield, Ousmane Dembele netted the only goal of the night as PSG bounced back from Liverpool’s late winner last week to force the tie to extra-time and penalties. Maligned
Paolo Banchero on Sunday scored 24 points as the Orlando Magic overturned a 13-point deficit to end the Cleveland Cavaliers’ 16-game unbeaten streak with a gutsy 108-103 road victory. Cleveland, the runaway Eastern Conference leaders, had looked poised to extend their franchise-record winning run after surging clear of Orlando early in the third quarter, but after a season where they have staged hefty winning comebacks of their own, the tables turned on Cleveland in the face of a furious burst of Orlando scoring. The Magic outscored Cleveland 35-23 in the third quarter, with Franz Wagner leading the charge with nine points and
Taiwan’s Lin Chun-yi on Wednesday inflicted a first-round defeat on former badminton world No. 1 Viktor Axelsen at the All England Open. Lin came out of top after a back-and-forth first game before Axelsen dominated the second, but the Dane was not able to keep that form in the decider as Lin reeled off six points in a row on the way to a 21-19, 13-21, 21-11 victory. “If I don’t play my best, everyone can win against me,” said Axelsen, the world No. 4. “Today’s opponent played a fantastic game; it was disappointing, but that is how it is.” “I just tried
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