03 May 2004	Monday	12 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

WARSAW, May 2: Venus Williams defeated Russia's Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-1, 6-4 to win the J and S Cup title in Warsaw on Sunday. It was her second straight victory, following her recent win in Charleston , and did much to banish her memories of the 2003 final which she conceded to Amelie Mauresmo.

The second seeded American retired when down 3-0 in the third set of that match after suffering a stomach muscle strain that eventually led to her missing the second half of last season.

Fourth seeded Kuznetsova, who won their February meeting in Dubai, was rarely able to mount a challenge in the face of an aggressive performance from Williams. The American's fierce ground strokes often proved too much for Kuznetsova to handle, and she only made more of an impression in the second set after Williams failed to maintain such a strong challenge.

Williams won an early break when she forced a forehand error at 1-1, and a powerful return forced another error to give her a second break to lead 4-1.

DAVYDENKO BAGS CROWN

BERLIN: Russian Nikolay Davydenko upset fourth seed Martin Verkerk in Sunday's Munich Open final, winning 6-4 7-5 to capture his third career title. The unseeded Davydenko, a winner in Adelaide and Estoril last year, showed more composure when it mattered to beat last year's French Open runner-up in an hour and 40 minutes.

Davydenko, who has now beaten Dutchman Verkerk twice in as many meetings, broke his opponent in the ninth game of the first set and went on to take the set after 40 minutes with his opponent hitting a forehand wide on set point.

The second set was tight until Verkerk dropped served again in the 11th game to enable Davydenko to serve for the match. The 22-year-old Russian won the last game to love, sealing victory with an ace on the first match point.

Verkerk, 25, who won his only title so far in Milan last year, relied on his trademark strong serve but made costly unforced errors

Barcelona final result

BARCELONA: Result of the Barcelona Open final on Sunday (prefix number denotes seeding): 8-Tommy Robredo (Spain) beat 13-Gaston Gaudio (Argentina) 6-3 4-6 6-2 3-6 6-3. -Reuters