Ruthless Kuznetsova wins in Sydney
Goffin claims Kooyong Classic, Sock overcomes illness to oust top seed Ferrer in Auckland
>> SYDNEY: Veteran Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova breezed past Monica Puig to win her 16th career title with a straight-set victory in the final of the Sydney International yesterday.
The 25th-ranked Kuznetsova took just 55 minutes to claim a 6-0, 6-2 victory over the 94th-ranked Puerto Rican in a one-sided final at Ken Rosewall Arena.
The 30-year-old, who was making her 11th appearance at the Sydney tournament, served at a high 69 percent with eight aces and broke Puig’s serve five times.
It capped a memorable tournament for Kuznetsova, who upset world No.2 Simona Halep in a rain-interrupted semi-final earlier yesterday 7-6 (7/5), 4-6, 6-3 in two hours 44 minutes.
It was a great tonic for the experienced Russian ahead of next week’s Australian Open in Melbourne where she will face Daniela Hantuchova in the opening round.
“It was not the easy schedule for me with doubles matches, with rain delays, with tough match with Simona this morning and last night,” Kuznetsova said.
“I’m really happy. I want to keep focused for Australian Open.”
Puig had an easy ride into only her second WTA final when Swiss eighth seed Belinda Bencic retired with an illness after losing the opening set 6-0.
Bencic was ill overnight and battled the match just to make it to the court and conceded as soon as Puig romped away with the first set.
Meanwhile Grigor Dimitrov and Viktor Troicki mastered rain disruptions to win two matches each yesterday to reach the men’s final.
Bulgaria’s Dimitrov downed Alexsandr Dolgopolov and Gilles Muller to reach his first ATP final in 14 months, while Serb Troicki defeated Nicolas Mahut and Teimuraz Gabashvili to move into his second straight Sydney final.
Rain forced suspensions of their quarter-finals on Thursday forcing the remaining men’s players to double up yesterday to set up today’s decider.
Fourth seed Dimitrov, a former Wimbledon semi-finalist, accounted for eighth seed Dolgopolov, 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 and then followed up with a 6-2, 7-6 (7/4) victory over Luxembourg’s Muller to reach the final.
Third seed and defending champion Troicki fought back from a set down to oust Mahut 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 and then took out Russian Gabashvili 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.
In Melbourne, Belgian world No.16 David Goffin put the final polish on his game for the Australian Open by beating Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-4, 6-2 yesterday to win the Kooyong Classic.
“It was a fantastic week for me,” said Goffin, who begins at the Australian Open next week against Ukraine’s Sergiy Stakhovsky.
In the play-off for third and fourth place, Spain’s Pablo Carreno-Busta defeated Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-4, 3-6, 10-3.
At the Hobart International, Eugenie Bouchard, playing her best stretch of tennis since sustaining a concussion in a dressing room fall at the US Open last September, advanced to the final with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 win over third seed Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia.
Bouchard will play seventh seed Alize Cornet of France, who beat Johanna Larsson of Sweden 6-1, 6-1.
In Auckland, New Zealand, Jack Sock overcame a dose of the flu to score an upset win over top seed David Ferrer in the ATP Auckland Classic yesterday to set up a final showdown against Roberto Bautista Agut.
Sock won his semi-final 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 to dash Ferrer’s hopes of a record fifth title in Auckland, while Bautista Agut also came from a set down to beat the second seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 3-6, 7-6 (7/3), 6-4.