Sport - Tennis

Jelena Jankovic takes Kremlin Cup

MOSCOW: World No. 1 Jelena Jankovic of Serbia beat Russian Vera Zvonareva in the women’ final of the $2.4 million Kremlin Cup tennis here on Sunday.

Jankovic won 6-2, 6-4 in one hour 21 minutes to record a fourth victory in five head-to-heads with Zvonareva this season and clinch her fourth crown this year.

The 23-year-old Serbian, who was playing her sixth final of the season, started the match with an immediate break for a comfortable 2-0 lead.

Jankovic then broke her opponent again to take the opening set in just 33 minutes.

In the second set Jankovic produced two more breaks but Zvonareva, ranked ninth in the world, picked up steam and broke back to level on both occasions. But in the ninth game Jankovic managed to make the deciding break, going on to wrap up the match and take the title. Jankovic received a silver trophy and a $196,900 prize cheque, while runner-up Zvonareva pocketed $105,800.

Philipp Petzschner upset Gael Monfils 6-4, 6-4 on Sunday to win the BA Tennis Trophy and his first ATP Tour title.

The German had never been beyond the quarterfinals of an ATP event before.

He had to play two qualifying rounds to enter the main draw and became only the third qualifier this season to win a tournament on the ATP circuit.

The eighth-seeded Monfils has now lost five of his six career finals, having won in Sopot, Poland, in 2005.

In Stockholm, David Nalbandian picked up where he left off a year ago indoors, scoring a 6-2, 5-7, 6-3 win over Robin Soderling to win the Stockholm Open to start the European indoor season with a victory.

The World No. 7 brushed back Soderling’s comeback effort to collect his fifth victory in six matches in that series. Last year, the Argentine exploded into form with back-to-back titles at the Masters events in Madrid and Paris Bercy.

Nalbandian is thick in the race for the season-ending, eight-man Masters Cup in Shanghai in less than a month. But the 26-year-old is unlikely to make the trip to China, with his focus on the key Davis Cup final against Spain at Mar del Plata in his homeland.

The results:

At Moscow: Kremlin Cup: Men: Final: Igor Kunitsyn bt Marat Safin 7-6(6), 6-7(4), 6-3. Women: Final: Jelena Jankovic bt Vera Zvonareva 6-2, 6-4.

At Stockholm: Stockholm Open: Final: David Nalbandian bt Robin Soderling 6-2, 5-7, 6-3.

At Vienna: Bank Austria Trophy: Final: Philipp Petzschner bt Gael Monfils 6-4, 6-4. Semifinals: Petzschner bt Feliciano Lopez 3-6, 6-3, 6-3. — Agencies

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