Serena Williams of the US lifts the trophy after winning her 53rd WTA title after her match against Swedish Johanna Larsson, 6-4, 6-1 in the final of the Swedish Open in Bastad, Sweden, yesterday. RIGHT: Fabio Fognini of Italy celebrates his win as he poses with the trophy after his final match against Argentina Delbonis at the ATP Hamburg Open in northern Germany.
Bastad, Sweden: World number one Serena Williams recovered from her shock early exit at Wimbledon by beating home hope Johanna Larsson to win the Swedish Open, yesterday.
The American dropped serve twice in the first set but overcame those setbacks to win 6-4, 6-1 in Bastad.
Williams, 31, has now won 51 matches and seven titles in 2013.
She had been a strong favourite to win her 17th Grand Slam title at Wimbledon earlier this month, but lost to Sabine Lisicki in the last 16.
“It was really good to come here and win after a disappointing Wimbledon, so hopefully this confidence will help me for the rest of the year,’’ said the top seed.
Williams chose to return on clay at the relatively low-key Swedish event, and victory brought her a first ever title at an ‘international’ level tournament, the fourth tier below Grand Slams.
The second seed was Romanian Simona Halep, ranked 30th in the world, so it was no surprise that Williams won all five matches without dropping a set.
She did not have it all her own way in the final, however, struggling in the early stages and letting out a huge scream when she finally slammed a forehand winner at 3-1 down.
Larsson, the Swedish number one and world number 76, had her chances but could not convert as she struggled to make enough first serves.
Williams eventually found her range and from 4-3 down lost just two more games on her way to capturing the 53rd WTA title of her career.
She remains unbeaten on clay this season, having also won in Rome, Madrid and Charleston.
Meanwhile, Fabio Fognini won his second straight ATP title in consecutive weeks as he took the Hamburg Open after recovering from dropping the first set to defeat Argentine qualifier Federico Delbonis.
The Italian picked up his maiden win on the senior circuit last weekend at Stuttgart and followed up with a victory over the surprising Delbonis 4-6, 7-6 (10/8), 6-2 who eliminated former world number one Roger Federer in Saturday’s semi-finals.
Delbonis was one point from victory in the second set when he held match point but the experience of the 12th-seeded Fognini kept him in touch and he mounted a rousing comeback to take the match and the tournament.
After winning Stuttgart’s tournament last Sunday, the 26-year-old Fognini got his temper under control to win the clay-court final after several outbursts in the second set.
Having lost the first set and found himself 4-1 down in the second, Fognini levelled at 4-4 and eventually forced a tie-breaker.
A double fault by the Italian gave Delbonis a match-point at 6-5, which left Fognini slamming his racquet into the court in frustration.
The Italian, composed himself to win the tie-break, then continued his run in the final set, racing into a 3-0 lead before going on to convert his first match point after 2 hours, 27 minutes. AGENCIES
