March 03, 2008	Monday	Safar 24, 1429

MEMPHIS (Tennessee), March 2: Former world number one Lindsay Davenport claimed her 55th career title by cruising to a 6-2, 6-1 victory over teenager Olga Govortsova of Belarus in the Memphis Championship on Saturday.

The 31-year-old fourth seed needed just 60 minutes to beat the fifth-seeded Govortsova in their first career meeting.

Davenport served eight aces in overpowering the 19-year-old, winning 89 per cent of her first-serve points.

Govortsova double faulted five times and served just two aces.

In the men’s draw, unseeded Belgian Steve Darcis and eighth seed Swede Robin Soederling advanced to Sunday’s final with semi-final victories.

Darcis out-lasted veteran Swede Jonas Bjorkman 4-6, 6-1, 6-4, and Soderling served his way to a 7-6, 6-3 upset of fourth seed Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic.

The 23-year-old Darcis will be seeking his second career title. The first came in Amersfoort, the Netherlands last July.

Bjorkman, 35, recorded the only service break of the opening set of his match with Darcis but failed to break the Belgian in the second and third.

Soderling blasted 12 aces and did not lose serve to defeat Stepanek for the third time in four career matches.

The Swede hit nine of his 12 aces in the opening set, including three in the tie-break where he grabbed a 5-0 lead.

In the second set, Stepanek was broken in the fifth game, double-faulting twice, and lost serve in the ninth to give Soderling the chance on Sunday to win his third career title.

DEMENTIEVA WINS DUBAI OPEN

DUBAI: Elena Dementieva defeated second seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in an all-Russian final at the Dubai Open Championship on Saturday to win her ninth career title.

It was the eighth seed’s first trophy since she won in Moscow in October while Kuznetsova suffered her second defeat in the final here, having also lost to Justine Henin in 2004.

Both players struggled to gain an advantage in a closely-contested opening set of long baseline rallies that produced seven breaks of serve.

Kuznetsova went 2-0 ahead but lost the next three games before winning the following three to lead 5-3.

Dementieva, striking her forehand to good effect, broke as Kuznetsova served for the set, only to drop her own serve for the fourth time in the next game.

The second set was also close with Kuznetsova attempting to come to the net more while Dementieva’s pace forced a number of errors from her opponent.

Kuznetsova had the opportunity to build on her advantage when she held a break point to lead 2-0 but hit a return long and Dementieva punished her by breaking twice to go 4-1 up.

Although Kuznetsova recovered one break in the sixth game, Dementieva broke again for the set when her rival made a backhand error.

Dementieva maintained her momentum in the decider, striking a fine winner at the net to break for 2-0 before going on to claim the winner’s cheque of $250,000.—Reuters