Siniakova beats Wozniacki, clinches Swedish Open title
Mayer secures second career title as Fognini wins in Gstaad
BASTAD, Sweden, July 30, (Agencies): Caroline Wozniacki struggled with injury Sunday as she lost the Swedish Open final to Katerina Siniakova.
The 56th-ranked Siniakova, who had injury problems of her own, took advantage of Wozniacki’s inconsistent serving to win 6-3, 6-4 for her second career title.
Meanwhile, Wozniacki has now played five finals in 2017 and lost them all in straight sets. She’d been seeking her 26th career title but first on clay since 2011, when she was the world No. 1.
Both players took medical timeouts following the first set as Wozniacki had problems with her left wrist and Siniakova with her right arm.
Wozniacki reacted well to go a break up at 3-1, but the Dane then lost her next two service games as
TENNIS
her Czech opponent regained the upper hand.
In Paris, Leonardo Mayer secured his second career title on Sunday as he defeated Germany’s Florian Mayer 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in the Hamburg clay-court final.
Argentina’s Mayer, ranked 138 in the world, had already won here in 2014 but was a lucky loser this time, profiting from Martin Klizan’s withdrawal due to injury after losing in the final round of qualifying.
After a week in which he notably ousted the top seed Albert RamosVinolas, Leonardo Mayer will rocket into the top 50 when the latest rankings come out on Monday.
Florian Mayer, 33 years old and 101 in the rankings, had been looking for the first title of his career.
In Gstaad, Switzerland, Fabio Fognini beat Yannick Hanfmann 6-4, 7-5 in the Gstaad ATP tournament final on Sunday to win his fifth tour title.
The 31-year-old Italian, ranked 31 in the world, was playing in his 13th ATP final.
All five of his victories have come on clay.
Despite losing, 25-year-old Hanfmann, the world number 170 who has had a hearing impairment since birth, enjoyed the best result of his career this week in reaching the final, having also knocked out third seed Feliciano Lopez of Spain in the second round.
In Beijing, China’s Peng Shuai claimed the Jiangxi Open title on Sunday when she overpowered unseeded Nao Hibino 6-3, 6-2 in a onesided final.
The 31-year-old Peng made light work of the Japanese in just under 90 minutes to add to the maiden WTA singles crown she won last year, also on home soil, in Tianjin.
Peng, with a world ranking of 32 and the tournament’s second seed, was never really in trouble on the outdoor hard courts at Nanchang in southeast China.
Hibino, 92 in the world, drove a two-handed backhand into the net from the baseline to gift the home favourite the match.
Peng, nearly a decade older than her opponent, raised both hands to the evening skies in celebration as she made the perfect start to the summer hard-court season. The tournament, where sweltering temperatures troubled players throughout the week, had opened up nicely for Peng.