HASSELT (Belgium), Oct 30: Belgium’s Kim Clijsters won the 170,000-dollar WTA event here on Sunday just a few kilometres from her home for her ninth tournament victory this season.
Clijsters beat Italy’s Francesca Schiavone 6-2, 6-3 in a one-sided contest to add to victories at Indian Wells, Miami, Eastbourne, Stanford, Los Angeles, Toronto, US Open and Luxembourg.
Clijsters repeated her 2003 feat of nine tournament victories when she was world number one and could now regain the top spot following the WTA Tour Championships in Los Angeles from November 8 to 13.
Schiavone led 2-0 in the first set but once Clijsters had found her rhythm, there was only going to be one winner.
PETROVA BEATS SCHNYDER
LINZ (Austria): Nadia Petrova earned her first career singles title on Sunday when she defeated Patty Schnyder 4-6 6-3 6-1 to win the Linz Open.
The Russian third seed, who had lost the four finals she had previously contested, boosted her chance of taking part in the WTA Championships by replacing Venus Williams at eighth place in the points standings.
The season-ending event in Los Angeles, which begins on Nov. 8 features the top eight players in the standings.
By reaching the final, Schnyder will move up to eighth in the world rankings, matching her career-best achieved in 1999.
RODDICK TRIUMPHS
LYON (France): Top seed Andy Roddick outgunned French teenager Gael Monfils 6-3 6-2 to win the Lyon Grand Prix on Sunday.
The American completed the week without dropping a serve to snatch his fifth ATP title this season after victories in San Jose, Houston, Queen’s Club and Washington.
The world number three is now heads to the Paris Masters where he will again be the clear favourite as the indoor tournament has been hit by a number of high-profile withdrawals.
Roddick, the player with the biggest serve in tennis, gave the inexperienced Monfils no chance of finding his feet in what was the third final of his young career.
The 19-year-old, ranked 36th in the world, lost his serve once at the beginning of each set to bow out in little more than an hour.
Roddick sealed the title when Monfils hit a forehand wide on the American’s second match point.
TITLE FOR JOHANSSON
ST PETERSBURG: Swedish second seed Thomas Johansson thrashed German Nicolas Kiefer 6-4 6-2 in the St Petersburg Open final on Sunday to win his first title of the year.
The 2002 Australian Open champion earned the only break in the seventh game to take the first set, then broke fifth seed Kiefer twice more in the second before wrapping up an emphatic victory with an ace.
The German, who was trying to win his first ATP title in five years, wasted several chances to turn the match around, conceding numerous break points in the first and second sets.
GONZALEZ WINS
BASEL (Switzerland): Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez won his third title of the year on Sunday after coming from behind to beat Cypriot qualifier Marcos Baghdatis 6-7 6-3 7-5 6-4 at the Swiss Indoors.—Agencies
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