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TOKYO, Oct 6: Magnus Norman’s hopes of a first title in two years were dashed in the final of the Japan Open here Sunday but the Swede took some consolation in losing to a player also battling his way back from injury.
Denmark’s Kenneth Carlsen, who hurt his shoulder in Singapore in November 1999 and had to sit out for 19 months, defeated Norman 7-6 (8-6), 6-3 in 106 minutes.
Until reaching the final here against the 29-year-old Carlsen, Norman had won only six singles matches on the Tour this season, losing in the first round 11 times before Tokyo.
Meanwhile, American Jill Craybas captured her first career title, breezing past Silvija Talaja of Croatia to win the women’s singles.
Playing her first-ever final on the tour, the 28-year-old from East Greenwich unleashed a series of accurate strokes in a classic baseline encounter against Talaja for a 2-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory in one hour 50 minutes.
ANOTHER FIRST
MOSCOW: French qualifier Paul-Henri Mathieu upset Dutch seventh seed Sjeng Schalken 4-6, 6-2, 6-0 in the Kremlin Cup men’s final to win his first major title.
Another unseeded player won the women’s final when Bulgarian Magdalena Maleeva — who beat Venus Williams earlier in the week — upset second seed Lindsay Davenport 5-7, 6-3, 7-6 to win her third Kremlin Cup title.
Twenty-year-old Mathieu, who knocked out top seed Marat Safin in the semi-final, crushed his 26-year-old opponent in the final set to earn the $133,000 prize.—AFP/Reuters
