Del Potro clinches Stockholm title

Gasquet wins in Antwerp

Engineer Duaij Khalaf Al-Utaibi honors Sheikh Salman.

STOCKHOLM, Oct 23, (Agencies): Former US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro clinched his first ATP title in almost three years with a 7-5, 6-1 victory over American Jack Sock in Sunday’s final in Stockholm.

The Argentine, who won at Flushing Meadows in 2009 before suffering a series of wrist injuries that pushed him to the brink of retirement, needed just over an hour and a quarter to beat sixth-seeded Sock.

Del Potro, runner-up to Andy Murray in the Olympic final in Rio in August, last played a tour final in Sydney in January 2014, when he beat home favourite Bernard Tomic 6-3, 6-1.

The world number 63 played just six tournaments across 2014 and 2015 but has gradually rediscovered the form that once enabled him to reach fourth in the world.

The 28-year-old helped his country defeat Murray’s Great Britain in this year’s Davis Cup semi-finals and will seek to lead Argentina to their first title against Croatia next month.

France’s Richard Gasquet beat Argentina’s Diego Schwartzman in straight sets 7-6 (7/4), 6-1 to win the inaugural ATP tournament in Antwerp on Sunday and claim his 14th career title.

It is Gasquet’s second trophy of the season after the 30-year-old won on home court in Montpellier back in February.

Currently ranked 19th in the world, Gasquet came into the Antwerp hard-court event as the third seed and he overcame the unseeded Argentine in just under an hour and a half, breaking his opponent three times.

Schwartzman, a winner in Istanbul earlier this year, had overcome home favourite and top seed David Goffin in the semifinal.

Romania’s Monica Niculescu defeated two-time Wimbledon champion and top seed Petra Kvitova 6-4, 6-0 on Saturday to win the Luxembourg WTA title, describing it as the “best moment of her life”.

It was a first title of 2016 for the unorthodox player who was a finalist at the event in 2011 and 2012.

“It was my best match this year,” said Niculescu. “I felt fantastic on the court, and after I took the first set I felt even better. I felt like nothing surprised me.

“But, wow, to beat Petra in the final? That’s the best moment in my life, I think.”

Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta came back from a set down to beat Italy’s Fabio Fognini and win the Kremlin

Gasquet

Cup on Sunday.

Carreno Busta won his second career title 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 despite needing treatment on his ankle midway through the second set.

Fognini saved two match points in the final game before Carreno Busta secured the win, dropping to his knees in celebration.

The victory caps a strong season for the 25-year-old Spaniard, who won his first ATP title at the WinstonSalem Open in August. He is 2-2 in career finals, while Fognini drops to 4-8. On Saturday, Russia’s Svetlana Kuznetsova won the women’s Kremlin Cup title, beating Australia’s Daria Gavrilova 6-2, 6-1.

Meanwhile, Angelique Kerber was given a brutal reminder of the extra burden she carries as the new world number one when she was forced to battle through three sets before winning her opening match at the WTA Finals against Dominika Cibulkova on Sunday.

The German was pushed all the way by an inspired Cibulkova before the Slovakian finally buckled and Kerber prevailed 7-6 (7-5) 2-6 6-3.

Although it was not her most polished performance, Kerber’s gritty victory underlined her fierce determination to cap her breakthrough season by adding the prestigious championship to her Australian Open and US Open titles.

“Of course the pressure is there,” Kerber said. “I feel the pressure of the different situation and I also have a lot more things to do in the last few days.

“It’s a challenge for me and I’m trying to play the best tennis in the last tournament in the last week of the year.

“I’m a little bit relaxed now. It was a really good, tough match so I think that was really important for me to have a match like that.”

Simona Halep, who looms as one of Kerber’s biggest threats, also laid down an ominous marker as she demolished rising American Madison Keys 6-2 6-4 in the first match of the $7 million tournament.

A finalist two years ago, the Romanian looked in great form on her return to Singapore’s purple indoor hardcourt, needing just over an hour to win her roundrobin contest with the big-hitting Keys.

The American admitted to feeling some anxiety in her first appearance in the elite eight-player event as she struggled to find her rhythm against Halep, one of the most tenacious counterpunchers in the game.

“There were definitely some nerves today, which I don’t think is surprising,” Keys said.

“It’s been a while since I’ve gone to a tournament where it’s all felt new...so that was kind of difficult to deal with.”

Despite being in control, Halep also had a brief moment of self-doubt in the second set, calling for her coach Darren Cahill, who told her just to relax and stick to her gameplan.

“I panicked a little bit because I missed some easy shots,” Halep said.

“He knows how to talk to me when I need. He just calms me down and it’s perfect.”

There was no obvious sign of the intense fight that was to come when Kerber clinically broke Cibulkova in the opening game of their match and comfortably held her own serve.

But the seventh-seed Cibulkova clawed her way back, forcing a tiebreaker than dominating the second set, rattling Kerber with her penetrating groundstrokes into the corners.

Cibulkova seemed to have gained the ascendancy when she broke Kerber’s serve early in the deciding third set but the world number one dug deep and reeled off five of the last six games to clinch victory and remain on course for next weekend’s semifinals with the top two players from each group advancing.

“It is a really, really tough one. It was really close,” a disappointed Cibulkova said.

“In this game, it’s all about small details. She was just bit more consistent in few games, and that’s what made her win.”