honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 6:54 a.m., Sunday, April 20, 2008

Tennis: Federer wins his first title of season

Associated Press

OEIRAS, Portugal — Top-ranked Roger Federer won the Estoril Open and his first title of the season when second-seeded Nikolay Davydenko retired with a leg injury while trailing 7-6 (5), 1-2 today.

It's been eight years since Federer needed five tournaments to get a shot at his first trophy of season.

"It's not the way you want to win a tournament, but that's just the way it goes sometime," Federer said. "It's great to win a title again and to straightaway win my first clay court tournament of the season gives me great confidence going into Monte Carlo."

Davydenko, who dropped to 0-12 against Federer, did not elaborate on his injury.

"I have a little injury and I can't finish the match," Davydenko told the court-side crowd. "I'm sorry guys."

In the last two weeks, Davydenko won the Sony Ericsson Open and led Russia to a Davis Cup win over the Czech Republic.

Federer evened his record in clay court finals to 7-7 on a windy day. Overall, he's won 54 of the 71 finals he's played.

On the women's side, Maria Kirilenko defeated Iveta Benesova 6-4, 6-2 for her third career title.

The second-seeded Russian broke Benesova's serve five times, helped by the Czech's five double-faults. It was the third straight tournament that Benesova lost in the final.

With Kirilenko leading 5-4, Benesova hit a shot wide to set up a first set point before rain forced an interruption. After the 41-minute delay, Benesova, who sits 100 spots below Kirilenko in the rankings, netted from a long rally to hand the 32nd-ranked Russian the first set.

Kirilenko broke to love for a 2-0 lead in the second set. Kirilenko had won 10 straight points before the 25-year-old Benesova smacked a forehand inside the line to start the third game.

Kirilenko won with her last break in the eighth game when Benesova returned the ball into the net.