Date:04/11/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/11/04/stories/2008110460411900.htm

Sport - Tennis

Petrova rallies to take WTA title

QUEBEC CITY: Russian top seed Nadia Petrova rallied to defeat American sixth seed Bethanie Mattek 4-6, 6-4, 6-1 here on Sunday in the final of the $175,000 WTA Quebec Challenge.

Petrova took home the 28,000-dollar top prize and her ninth career WTA title. It was the 11th-ranked Russian’s second title of the year after victory in Cincinnati in August.

Petrova, 26, also was a finalist last month at Stuttgart.

Mattek, ranked 43rd, offered the first real resistance that Petrova had faced all week. After pocketing the first set, Mattek went up a break in the second, but Petrova held her nerve and gradually asserted herself.

“Bethanie made it so difficult for me today. I really had to work hard,” Petrova said.

Nadal pulls out

Meanwhile, World No. 1 Rafael Nadal of Spain said on Monday that he had pulled out of the season-ending Shanghai Masters due to fatigue after a long season and to focus on the Davis Cup in Argentina. — Agencies