Tennis Capsules: VWilliams wins Mexico Open final
ACAPULCO — Venus Williams came from a set down to defend her Mexican Open title, while David Ferrer defeated good friend and fellow Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero to end his 14-match winning streak.
Williams beat Polona Hercog 2-6, 6-2, 6-3 on Saturday night for her second consecutive title — this one on clay to go with Dubai a week ago on hard courts. The win pushed her career total to 43 WTA championships, the most by an active player.
Ferrer lost to Ferrero at the Copa Telmex last week in Buenos Aires, but got a little bit of revenge with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 victory in Acapulco. Ferrero’s winning streak had included ATP titles in his last two tournaments, in Brazil and Argentina.
Williams started slowly and got into trouble with an erratic serve and groundstrokes that were often long. Hercog was poised in winning the first set and seldom missed a shot.
The American gained her composure in the second set and began to wear down the 19-year-old Slovenian, hitting the corners more often and opening the court.
"I played such a good opponent," Williams said. "In the first set she did not miss one shot and I had to find a way to get into the match."
As she did last year in winning, Williams donned a huge sombrero — known as a "charro," the type worn by Mexico Mariachi musicians — and turned to salute the crowd. She suggested she’ll be back next year for at shot at three straight.
"I would love to come next year," she said. "I have to make it three, a hat trick. I think I can do it. It’s not an easy tournament to win, as you can see this year."
It was Williams’ first tournament of the season on clay, and she was pushed to three sets in her final three matches by lightly rated opponents. Williams beat No. 399 Laura Pios Tio in the quarterfinals, No. 164 Edina Gallovits in the semifinals and 60th-ranked Hercog, who was playing in her first WTA final.
Williams came from 5-1 down in the final set to win the quarterfinals against Pous Tio, cheered on by fans chanting "Venus, Venus." The fans were just a vocal in the Saturday’s final.
"It’s too bad Mexican fans can’t follow me around the world and give me that support," Williams said. "I’m going to miss it."
The victory was Williams’ ninth on clay, second on the active list to Justine Henin. She disputes any suggestion she’s only an average clay-court player, though.
"I actually feel like I’ve had good results on clay," she said.
Dementieva facing first-time finalist Kleybanova
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — Elena Dementieva defeated Sybille Bammer of Austria 6-1, 6-3 to set up an all-Russian final with first-timer Alisa Kleybanova at the inaugural Malaysian Open on Saturday.
Fourth-seeded Kleybanova beat unseeded Ayumi Morita of Japan 6-4, 6-1 in the first semifinal to reach her first career WTA final.
Top-seeded Dementeiva and Kleybanova will meet for the first time.
"I’m really looking forward to the final as I have never faced Alisa before," Dementieva said. "I think she is one of the most talented young players around ... she has a good serve and the key on Sunday is to hold on to my serve."
Dementieva will be gunning for her third title of the year, after triumphs in Sydney and Paris gave her 16 career titles.
The Russian has scythed through the draw, conceding only 15 games in four matches.
She broke Bammer five times in 16 chances and lost her own serve only once.
Dementieva won the first set in only 16 minutes, but Bammer put up a stronger fight in the rain-interrupted second set.
Kleybanova, a seventh-year pro, didn’t drop serve against Morita and delivered 11 aces.
"Today my serve helped me a lot and I took advantage of it," she said. "I could relax and take more risks with my shots."
Gulbis reaches first career final at Delray Beach
DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — Ernests Gulbis of Latvia reached his first career final with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Jarkko Nieminen at the Delray Beach International Tennis Championship on Saturday.
Gulbis, who has reached two other semifinals, was serving for the match at 6-4, 5-4 when rain interrupted play for just over three hours. It took the 72nd-ranked player two minutes to serve out the match when they went back on court in front of 61 spectators.
He finished in fine style with a 125 mph ace.
Gulbis will play the winner of the semifinal between second-seeded Ivo Karlovic of Croatia and defending champion Mardy Fish of the U.S
Rain postpones Dubai final, Djokovic leads
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — Defending champion Novak Djokovic led Mikhail Youzhny 7-5, 2-0 Saturday before the Dubai Championship final was postponed because of rain.
The second-seeded Serb was serving at 30-15 in the third game of the second set when the second rain shower forced the final to Sunday. There was a 27-minute rain delay after the first set.
The two players broke each other twice in the opening set before Djokovic’s decisive break in the 11th game.
Youzhny defeated Djokovic at the Rotterdam semifinals two weeks ago to even their career record to 3-3.
