Elena Dementieva secured her second title of the year at the Paris [Indoors], but Andy Roddick was unable to take his second title for 2010 at the SAP Open in San Jose.
Dementieva staged a comeback from a set down against Lucie Safarova in the Paris final to go one better than in 2009, when the Russian was runner-up to the now retired Amelie Mauresmo in the final of the indoor tournament.
The Paris trophy joins the Sydney International silverware on Dementieva’s mantelpiece, but it did not come easy for the world No. 7 who was 0-3 down in the first set against 46th-ranked Safarova before fighting back, only to lose that one in a tiebreak.
The 2008 Olympic gold medallist raced away from the Czech in the second set, winning it 6-1 in just 27 minutes, before Safarova – who had upset second seed Flavia Pennetta in the semis – regrouped in the third fight the match out to the end.
While Dementieva’s reluctance to exploit Safarova’s weaker backhand side was puzzling, the in-form Russian ultimately won the deciding set 6-4 to claim the 16th title of her career, and go some way towards making amends for her prematurely thwarted Australian Open campaign, where she lost to wildcard and eventual runner-up, Justine Henin, in the second round.
For Roddick, who won the Brisbane title in his first tournament back from a knee injury, the result was not quite as good in San Jose. The American was aiming for his fourth SAP Open title, but Fernando Verdasco had other ideas.
The Spaniard has in recent times developed a habit of pushing the top 10 players to the brink before falling short – his three round-robin matches at the World Tour Finals and his five-set loss to Nikolay Davydenko at the Australian Open are prime examples – but against Roddick in the SAP Open final, Verdasco reversed that trend with a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 victory to win his first title of 2010.
In Rotterdam, the final was an anti-climax in a tournament that had promised so much with a strong field led by Novak Djokovic and Nikolay Davydenko. But by the time the deciding match of the tournament rolled around, neither of the top two seeds were present.
Instead, the title was decided in a final between Robin Soderling and Mikhail Youzhny, after each ousted one of the top two in the semis. Unfortunately, with Soderling holding a 6-4, 2-0 lead over the Russian, Youzhny was forced to retire from the match with a thigh injury.
With that, the Swede had his first title of 2010 after recording opening-round exits in his first two tournaments of the year.
In Thailand, Vera Zvonareva defended her Pattaya Open title with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Tamarine Tanasugarn to deny the local crowd a home titlist.
Finally, on clay at the Brazil Open, Juan Carlos Ferrero gave Poland’s Lukasz Kubot a reminder of just why he was regarded as the king of the dirt courts back in his heyday with a 6-1, 6-0 victory in a one-sided final.
The women’s action moves Dubai, Memphis and Bogota this week, while the men take to the court at the Open 13 in Marsaille as well as in Memphis and on clay in Buenos Aires.
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