13 July 2004	Tuesday	24 Jamadi-ul-Awwal 1425

NEWPORT, July 12: Britain's Greg Rusedski, the only former champion in the field, edged No. 7 Alexander Popp of Germany 7-6 (7/5), 7-6 (7/2) in Sunday's final of the ATP Hall of Fame tennis championship.

Rusedski, who leads all active players in grass court wins with 78, won his first career title here in 1993 and now claimed his 14th. He also won on grass at Nottingham in 1997 and 2003.

The 31-year-old Rusedski, appearing here for the first time since 1994, earned US$52,000 after winning his first final of the season. He improved to 11-1 in this tournament.

Zabaleta retains crown

BASTAD: Argentine Mariano Zabaleta retained the Swedish Open title with a 6-1 4-6 7-6 victory over his compatriot and friend Gaston Gaudio in the rain-delayed final on Monday.

Second seed Gaudio won the French Open last month but Zabaleta showed he was the master on the Swedish clay as he bagged his third career title. Zabaleta clinched the first set in just 29 minutes after Gaudio failed to hold serve even once.

Gaudio found his rhythm in the second and broke Zabaleta for a 5-4 lead before levelling the contest. Zabaleta regained the momentum at the start of the deciding set to race into a 4-2 lead.

But nerves crept into his game as he tried to close out for the title. Zabaleta allowed the world number 11 to claw back into the match and also wasted a match point on Gaudio's serve in the 12th game. With Gaudio forcing the match into a tiebreak, Zabaleta lobbed his opponent on match point to seal it 7-4. -Agencies