MOSCOW (AP) ― Caroline Wozniacki won her 20th career title Sunday, beating Samantha Stosur of Australia 6-2, 4-6, 7-5 in the final of the Kremlin Cup.
The former top-ranked Dane has fallen to No. 11 but is showing signs of returning to her best after also winning in Seoul in September for her first title of the year.
Andreas Seppi rallied to beat Thomaz Bellucci 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-3 to win the men’s final.
Wozniacki dominated early against Stosur but then looked to be in trouble after the Australian leveled the match and then broke to love in the first game of the third set.
But Wozniacki fought back to level at 3-all, and broke again in the last game when Stosur sent a backhand wide on Wozniacki’s second match point.
“At the right times I managed to win the right points,” Wozniacki said. “I tried to stay aggressive and stay close to the line and just dictate. But she played well and I knew it wasn’t going to be easy.”
Stosur felt she was unlucky at times in the match.
“I certainly put myself in too much of a hole to be allowed to get out of it,” she said, “I feel like I went for the right things and missed by a couple of inches.”
Stosur was playing in her second final this season after also being a runner-up in Doha, and is 3-12 in WTA finals.
Luxembourg Open
Venus Williams won her first WTA tournament in more than two years, beating Monica Niculescu of Romania 6-2, 6-3 to take the Luxembourg Open title on Sunday.
Slowed by injuries and illness for two seasons, Williams showed she still had the winning touch and played steady tennis while Niculescu proved error-prone as she sought her first career title.
At 32, Williams won her 44th singles title in a career that includes seven Grand Slams.
The 70th-ranked Niculescu lost in the Luxembourg Open final for the second straight year.
Williams, now ranked No. 41, had not won a tournament since early 2010, when she took the titles in Dubai and Acapulco.
Throughout the 1-hour, 22-minute match, Williams rarely looked in trouble, taking the early initiative and never letting go.
For a player who relies strongly on her serve, she was successful on only 63 percent of her first serves and didn’t manage a single ace on the indoor hard-courts at CK Sportcenter Kockelsheuer. She was much more solid in her backcourt game as Niculescu looked hesitant from the start and failed to get any momentum going.
Erste Bank Open
Top-seeded Juan Martin del Potro won his 12th career title Sunday, beating qualifier Grega Zemlja of Slovenia 7-5, 6-3 at the Erste Bank Open.
It’s only the second indoor title for the Argentine, who was playing his first event since returning from a right wrist injury that sidelined him for more than a month.
“It’s been a fantastic week,” the eighth-ranked Del Potro said. “Coming back to the tour and being seeded No. 1 put me under pressure. I am so happy now. Winning a tournament means a lot. It’s important to have a good end to the year.”
Stockholm Open
Tomas Berdych won his second ATP title this year by rallying to beat top-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the Stockholm Open final on Sunday.
The sixth-ranked Czech saved seven of nine break-point chances in the hard-fought match to improve to 3-1 against Tsonga and add to his win in February in Montpellier, France.
Berdych now has eight career titles ― including winning more than one in a season for the first time.
“It feels pretty good ... this season has been really solid,” Berdych said.
koreaherald@heraldcorp.com
