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| July 25, 2006 | Tuesday | Jumadi-ul-Sani 28, 1427 |
Zvonareva upsets another seed to claim title
CINCINNATI, July 24: Russian Vera Zvonareva rounded off a week of upsets with a 6-2, 6-4 victory over Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia to win the Cincinnati Open on Sunday.
Zvonareva's second title of the year was well-earned.
The unseeded Russian knocked out seventh seed Tatiana Golovin, fifth seed Jelena Jankovic and former world number one Serena Williams in her march to the final.
The 21-year-old needed just 56 minutes to beat fourth seed Srebotnik and collect her fifth career title.
The Russian world number 50 took control after breaking Srebotnik to go ahead 3-2. She raced away with the first set and was quickly 2-0 up in the second.
Srebotnik, who reached her first final of the season with a semi-final win over defending champion Patty Schnyder, stopped the tailspin when she held serve at 2-1.
The Slovenian continued to battle, finally breaking Zvonareva to level at 3-3 but the Muscovite broke straight back twice to close out the match.
Srebotnik does not have to wait long to get even since the two women are scheduled to meet in the first round of the Bank of the West Classic starting on Monday in Stanford, California.
BLAKE DOWNS RODDICK INDIANAPOLIS: Top seed James Blake recovered from a shaky start to beat Andy Roddick 4-6, 6-4, 7-6 in the final of the Indianapolis International Championship on Sunday.
Roddick's defeat in two hours, three minutes, left the former world number one without a title since winning in Lyon nine months ago but he does return to the world's top 10.
Blake, who moves to a career-high fifth in the world, enjoyed his second win a row over second-seeded Roddick whom he also beat at Queen's Club in London last month.
Blake, who has already won in Sydney and Las Vegas this year, is 2-6 against Roddick after losing the first six matches to his fellow American.
The winner hoped it marked a revival for American tennis after disappointments at the French Open and Wimbledon.
Blake, who lost in the first round last year, improved to 37-15 for the season as he took his record in finals to 6-6.
Roddick, who dropped out of the world's top 10 for the first time in four years after Wimbledon, served 17 aces and struck 41 winners. But it was not enough to beat a determined Blake who saved 10 of a dozen break points.—Reuters
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