October 17, 2007	Wednesday	Shawwal 4, 1428

MOSCOW, Oct 16: Top seeded Nikolay Davydenko and unseeded Elena Dementieva both of Russia clinched the 2.34-million-dollar joint ATP and WTA Kremlin Cup titles here on Sunday.

Davydenko defended his title beating Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu, who was seeded fourth, while Dementieva won her eighth career title and her second of the year, beating US fourth seed Serena Williams.

With his 7-5, 7-6 (11-9) win in two hours 32 minutes, Davydenko, currently fourth in the world, clinched his 11th career title and first this year, taking a 3-2 lead in his head-to-head record with Mathieu.

Earlier Dementieva defeated Williams for the first time in five meetings 5-7, 6-1, 6-1 and will regain a place in the world’s top 10.

Dementieva pocketed a prize purse of $182,000, while runner-up Williams, who fired seven aces but committed 59 unforced errors in the match, received $97,800.

DJOKOVIC WINS IN VIENNA

VIENNA: Novak Djokovic defeated unseeded Swiss Stanislas Wawrinka 6-4, 6-0 to win the ATP Vienna Open on Sunday.

The result was sweet revenge for the top-seeded Serb, who was beaten by Wawrinka in straight sets in the second round a year ago.

Since then, Djokovic has rocketed up the rankings to world number three, and as well as reaching his first Grand Slam final at the US Open, the 20-year old has now claimed five titles this season.

3RD CROWN FOR KARLOVIC

STOCKHOLM: Big-serving Ivo Karlovic defeated Thomas Johansson 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 on Sunday to win the Stockholm Open for his third career ATP title.

With the win, the seventh-seeded Karlovic joined top-ranked Roger Federer as the only players to win singles titles on three different surfaces this year.

Karlovic won his first two ATP titles this year at Houston (clay) and Nottingham (grass) and earned a career-high ranking of No. 25 this week.

With only three weeks left of the season, it’s likely that Sweden, a former powerhouse in men’s tennis, will finish the year without an ATP singles title for the second straight year. Johansson was the last Swede to win a title in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 2005.

PENNETTA wins in BANGKOK

BANGKOK: Seventh seed Flavia Pennetta of Italy easily captured the Bangkok Open title with a 6-1, 6-3 drubbing of Taiwan’s Chan Yung-Jan on Sunday.

Chan, making her WTA finals debut, proved little competition for the battled-tested Italian who had scored a stunning semi-final defeat of Wimbledon champion Venus Williams and a quarter-final comeback against 16th-ranked Israeli Shahar Peer.

Rain continued to mar the pair’s first-ever meeting with a four hour and 20-minute suspension hampering the first game in the second set, leaving it tied at 15-all.

When play resumed, Chan appeared to have new life, breaking Pennetta for the first time for a 2-1 lead.

But Pennetta broke back immediately with well-placed groundstrokes keeping Chan on the defensive for the rest of the night.

The Italian sealed the championship with a deep forehand in the corner and threw her head back in relief.—Agencies