July 29, 2003	Tuesday	Jumadi-ul-Awwal 28, 1424

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INDIANAPOLIS, July 28: A fired-up Andy Roddick roared to his eighth career title with a 7-6 6-4 victory over Thailand’s Paradorn Srichaphan in the final of the RCA Championships on Sunday.

Top seed Roddick smashed a ball out of the stadium court and argued with the umpire during a tightly-contested first set, but the American stayed in control of the match to win in one hour, 23 minutes.

He sauntered through the tiebreak 7-2 and seized a break opportunity to go 3-2 up in the second set before serving out the match and collecting the winner’s prize of $74,250.

It was Roddick’s third title of the year and gave the Wimbledon and Australian Open semi-finalist a perfect start to his preparations for next month’s US Open in New York.

But he did not appear so positive in the eighth game of the opening set when the strong wind blew down an advertising hoarding, breaking his concentration and allowing Paradorn to escape from 30-30.

Roddick sent a loose ball sailing over the stands in anger, and then vented it on Brazilian umpire Carlos Bernardes after a disputed line call with Paradorn serving to save the set at 4-5.

But Roddick regained his composure, serving out to love in the next game and securing a mini-break at the start of the tiebreak to wrap up the first set.

His tactic of rushing the net more often than usual also paid dividends and, with Paradorn unsettled in the fifth game of the second set, Roddick converted one of his four break points and never looked back.

The result gave Roddick a 3-1 head-to-head win record over Paradorn, the world number 11 whose form in Indianapolis this week has alternated between sublime and substandard.

MOYA WINS IN CROATIA

UMAG (Croatia): Spaniard Carlos Moya secured his third successive Croatia Open title with a 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 victory over seventh-seeded Italian Filippo Volandri in a thrilling final on Sunday.

Moya became the first player to claim four titles at the Umag tournament — which he also won in 1996, 2001 and 2002 — surpassing Austrian Thomas Muster who won it three times in the early 1990s.

CLIJSTERS TRIUMPHS

PALO ALTO (California): Belgium’s Kim Clijsters rallied from a set down to overcome Jennifer Capriati 4-6, 6-4, 6-2 on Sunday for her second Bank of the West Classic title.

In winning her fifth title of the year, the second seeded Clijsters wore down the American third seed using an array of sharp groundstrokes coupled with lightening speed around the court.

Clijsters came out roaring in the first set, breaking the American to 2-0 with a backhand winner down the line.

The 20-year-old continued to dominate and held three break points for a 4-0 lead but Capriati clawed her way back into the contest and eventually held serve with two baseline winners.

Capriati broke back to 3-4 with a deft forehand drop shot winner and the shift in momentum led to another break in the ninth game with a huge inside-out forehand.

Capriati was in control and she wrapped up the opening set on her fourth set point when her opponent hit a forehand tamely into the net.

The 27-year-old American took a medical timeout between sets to treat a right shoulder injury but she started the second set by breaking Clijsters to love and appeared well on her way to victory.

However, Clijsters broke back immediately to level the scores at 1-1 when Capriati sent a forehand wide.

The two continued to extend each other in long rallies in the searing heat until the 20-year-old Clijsters finally broke through in the tenth game when she forced Capriati into a forehand error.—Reuters