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| July 24, 2007 | Tuesday | Rajab 08, 1428 |
Stepanek shocks Blake to clinch second ATP title
LOS ANGELES, July 23: Unseeded Czech Radek Stepanek upset tournament favourite James Blake 7-6, 5-7, 6-2 to clinch his second ATP title at the Los Angeles Classic on Sunday.
The 28-year-old from Karvina, playing on his preferred hardcourt surface, broke the second-seeded American twice in the final set to seal victory in two hours 20 minutes at the Los Angeles Tennis Center.
Despite taking a medical timeout late in the match to have treatment on his left hamstring, Stepanek outplayed his more powerful opponent with guile and impressive speed about the court.
Out of action for six months last year because of a neck injury, the Czech won his only other title in Rotterdam last year.
The Czech edged the opening set 9-7 on a tiebreak in just under an hour after each player had earlier squandered a 0-40 lead on their opponent's serve.
Blake conjured a superbly angled backhand return before wasting three breakpoints in the eighth game, Stepanek fighting back before unleashing an ace to level the set at 4-4.
The momentum shifted in favour of the Czech when Blake made successive unforced errors in the 11th game to trail 0-40 on his own serve before the American came back to hold.
After Blake failed to take advantage of three set points in the tiebreak, Stepanek won the set at the first opportunity with a searing forehand down the line.
Breaks of serve were traded in the fifth and sixth games of the second set before Blake won the 11th on Stepanek's serve, ending a well-crafted rally with an overhead smash to lead 6-5.
The American then held serve to level the match at one set all.
Blake saved two game points on his own serve before winning the second game of the final set but Stepanek tightened his grip by breaking the American in the fourth.
Blake double-faulted to trail 30-40 before the Czech struck a backhand service return winner down the line to stretch his lead to 3-1.
He again broke Blake in the eighth game to seal victory.
STUTTGART: World No 2 Rafael Nadal captured his sixth title of the year on Sunday, overcoming a stiff challenge from unseeded Stanislas Wawrinka to win 6-4, 7-5 in the final of the Stuttgart Cup.
The French Open champion, competing in his 16th straight clay-court final, was made to work hard by the Swiss world No 50 and had to come back from 5-2 down in the second set to take victory in just over two hours.
It was his second win at the Stuttgart Cup after his 2005 triumph and he improves his 2007 win-loss record to 56-8, with 31-1 on clay.
The 21-year-old Majorcan had problems with his right knee earlier in the tournament which almost forced his withdrawal. He was again wearing strapping on Sunday but showed no obvious signs of discomfort during the match.
Wawrinka, who won his only ATP title last year, was out for three months earlier in 2007 with a knee injury but pushed Nadal harder than any of his opponents at the Weissenhof this week, breaking the top seed three times.
The Swiss produced a string of stunning drives and showed great touch and athleticism in successfully chasing down several of Nadal's trademark drop shots but folded when serving for the second set at 5-3.
AMERSFOORT (Netherlands): Belgian qualifier Steve Darcis clinched his first significant title when he beat Austrian Werner Eschauer 6-1, 7-6 in the final of the Amersfoort Open on Sunday.
Darcis, world-ranked 297 and playing only his second tournament on the ATP Tour, made a flashing start by winning the first five games.
The 33-year-old Eschauer, also in his first ATP final, fought back in the second set but failed to convert one of the six break chances he created and lacked the answer to Darcis's aggressive baseline performance in the tie-break.
CINCINNATI (Ohio): Top seed Anna Chakvetadze of Russia won her third WTA Tour title of the year as she breezed past Akiko Morigami of Japan 6-1, 6-3 in the Cincinnati Open final on Sunday.
The 20-year-old Chakvetadze claimed the first set in 26 minutes, then overcame a 0-2 start to win the second.
The victory gave Chakvetadze a 5-0 record in WTA Tour finals and ended a three-match losing streak to the seventh-seeded Morigami.—Reuters
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