First final, first win for Garcia-Lopez
Associated Press
KITZBUEHEL, Austria — Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain won his first ATP Tour title yesterday, rallying past Julien Benneteau of France, 3-6, 7-6 (1), 6-3, in the Austrian Open final.
"I am so happy. It was incredible to reach my first final, and now I've won it," the 25-year-old Garcia-Lopez said. "It was an unbelievable week for me, also an exhausting one."
The 74th-ranked Garcia-Lopez was the more consistent player. He dictated the pace of the game from behind the baseline and pressured Benneteau into making mistakes.
Benneteau is now 0-3 in career ATP finals — he also lost in Casablanca, Morocco, and Lyon, France, in 2008.
The clay-court tournament was a warmup for the French Open, which starts today.
In the first round, Garcia-Lopez will play Andreas Seppi, while Benneteau will face ninth-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
STRASBOURG
WTA FIRST FOR REZAI
STRASBOURG, France — Aravane Rezai of France beat Lucie Hradecka of the Czech Republic, 7-6 (2), 6-1, yesterday to win her first WTA Tour title at the Strasbourg International.
"It wasn't easy to handle (the pressure). At the start I was a bit scared," the 79th-ranked Rezai said. "Mentally this was my toughest match of the week."
It was Rezai's third final after runner-up finishes in 2007 and in 2008.
Both players are in the draw for the French Open, which starts today. Rezai faces Ai Sugiyama of Japan, while Hradecka takes on Austrian qualifier Yvonne Meusburger.
WARSAW OPEN
DULGHERU WINS DEBUT
WARSAW, Poland — Alexandra Dulgheru, a Romanian qualifier ranked No. 201, won the Warsaw Open yesterday in her WTA Tour debut by beating Alona Bondarenko of Ukraine, 7-6 (3), 3-6, 6-0.
In a match played in strong wind and twice interrupted by rain, the 19-year-old Dulgheru used an array of groundstrokes and drop shots to break her eighth-seeded opponent eight times. Bondarenko, ranked No. 39, was the runner-up in this tournament in 2007.
Dulgheru did not qualify for the French Open. Bondarenko takes on 20th-seeded Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia in the first round at Roland Garros.
WORLD TEAM CUP
SERBIA TOPS GERMANY
DUESSELDORF, Germany — Serbia defeated Germany to win the World Team Cup yesterday, becoming only the second team in the tournament's 32-year history to hoist the trophy on its debut.
Viktor Troicki claimed a 6-4, 7-6 (5) win over Rainer Schuettler and Janko Tipsarevic sealed the victory by beating Philipp Kohlschreiber. 6-2, 6-4.