Soderling, Verdasco, Ferrero, Dementieva, Zvonareva Claim Titles

ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament
Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Surface: indoor hard
$1,150,000

No. 3-seeded Robin Soderling of Sweden was gifted the Rotterdam title on Sunday when opponent and No. 6 seed Mikhail Youzhny retired with a right hamstring injury trailing 6-4, 2-0. “I started out struggling a bit in my first two rounds, struggling to find my form, but I worked hard and managed to get better with every match,” Soderling said. “Obviously it’s not the way I wanted to win today with Mikhail retiring injured but I am still very happy to end the week with another title.” Top seeds Nestor/Zimonjic won the doubles title, defeating Aspelin/Hanley 10-7 in a third-set breaker in the final.

SAP Open
San Jose, Calif., USA
Surface: indoor hard
$531,000
ADHEREL
No. 2-seeded Spaniard Fernando Verdasco defeated top-seeded Andy Roddick on Sunday, denying the American a fourth SAP Open title, coming from a set down to score a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win in San Jose. Verdasco improved to 4-10 in career finals, and became the first Spaniard to win in the Bay Area since Manuel Santana in 1964. Verdasco had lost his prior 15 straight matches versus Top 10-ranked players. Roddick had previously won San Jose in 2004 (d. Mardy Fish), 2005 (d. Cyril Saulnier) and 2008 (d. Radek Stepanek).

Brasil Open
Costa do Sauipe, Brazil
Surface: outdoor clay
$442,500

30-year-old former No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero celebrated his birthday week with a decisive 6-1, 6-0 victory over Poland’s Lukasz Kubot on Sunday in the final of the Brasil Open. “You never expect to play a one-sided final like this,” Ferrero said. “One is always nervous in the beginning of a final, and it wasn’t different today. I thought I played well from the beginning and with two breaks of serve ahead quite early in the match I never looked back…I have a house close from here, at Guarajuba, and it is always nice when you can play and stay home.” The 27-year-old Kubot fell to 0-2 in career finals.

Open GDF Suez
Paris, France
Surface: indoor hard
$700,000

Top-seeded Elena Dementieva one-bettered her runner-up performance last year to Amelie Mauresmo in the Paris indoor final, on Sunday coming from a set down to defeat unseeded Czech Lucie Safarova 6-7(5), 6-1, 6-4 for the Open GDF Suez title. She improved to 16-14 in career finals, while Safarova fell to 4-4. After Sydney, Dementieva has now won two of the three tournaments she has competed in for 2010. “I always wanted to win in Paris,” Dementieva said. “This tournament is very special for me and I was coming here every year trying to win this title. I was pretty close a couple of times. I always feel great support when I play in Paris, that’s why I feel very special here. Being the No.1 seed didn’t make it any easier to win, because all the girls were playing very well against me. They’re young and have nothing to lose.” One who had nothing to lose was American Melanie Oudin, who Dementieva beat from a set down in the semifinals. Top-seeded Black/Huber were forced to hand the doubles title to the all-Czech team of Benesova/Zahlavova Strycova when Black couldn’t take the court due to a viral illness and nose bleeding.

PTT Pattaya Open
Pattaya City, Thailand
Surface: outdoor hard
$220,000

Top-seeded Russian Vera Zvonareva denied Thai fans a homecountry champion on Sunday in Pattaya City, defeating unseeded Thai Tamarine Tanasugarn 6-4, 6-4, to successfully defend her PTT Pattaya Open title. Zvonareva improved to 10-11 in career finals, winning her last three, and Tanasugarn fell to 3-7. “Thank you very much to all the fans here — especially the Thai fans — for cheering me on during the week,” said Tanasugarn, who turned around and won the doubles title. “Also thanks to the Russian fans for cheering Vera on, she played so well today. Credit to her, her game is brilliant, she didn’t let me play mine and she didn’t miss on hers.”