Serena, Errani, Isner, Ferrer, Tipsarevic Win Tennis Titles

Serena Follows Wimbledon with WTA Stanford Title

Serena Williams, seemingly on a rocket train back to the No. 1 ranking, on Sunday followed her Wimbledon title with the Bank of the West title at Stanford, beating fellow American and lucky loser Coco Vandeweghe 7-5, 6-3.
ADHEREL
The younger Williams sister didn’t lose a set en route to her 43rd career title, but struggled in putting away the first set.

“I just really wanted to win that game,” Williams said of the 4-5 game in the first. “I was up in that game and had so many break points, but she played well on them and I was making some errors. And then she even had a set point. But I just hung in there and tried to do the best I could, and thankfully I won that first set…I think Coco played really well today. She has a really strong, solid game.”

Vandeweghe was appearing in her first career WTA final.

“Serena’s a great player and will take advantage of every opportunity she gets,” said Vandeweghe, who served at 5-4 with a set point. Vandeweghe was the first lucky loser to reach a WTA final in over seven years.

Hot-handed Errani Wins WTA Palermo

Newly-minted Top 10er Sara Errani won her homecountry tournament on Sunday, as the top seed defeating No. 8 Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-1, 6-3, for the XXV Italiacom Open title.

It is the fourth 2012 title for Errani and sixth career title. Zahlavova Strycova falls to 1-2 in WTA finals.

“It wasn’t easy like the score looks — Barbara was playing very aggressively and it was tough for me,” Errani said. “In some moments of the match I was a little bit nervous, and she was able to come back into the match at those times, but at the end of the match I played very well and was able to close it out.”

Isner Tames Hewitt for Grasscourt ATP Newport Crown

Top-seeded American John Isner successfully defended his Newport grasscourt title on Sunday, topping former Wimbledon champion Lleyton Hewitt 7-6(1), 6-4.

“I did well, I defended those points and I kept my ranking where it’s at,” Isner said. “More importantly than that, I gained a lot of confidence from this week just as I did last year. I had a great, great summer last year. I hope to have much of the same this year.”

For Hewitt it was his first-ever career loss in a grasscourt final, dropping to 7-1 in finals on the lawns.

“It’s done a lot of good [for my confidence],” said Hewitt, who last won a title in 2010. “A lot of positives have come out of this week. Grass is a tough surface to come back on after any kind of surgery, and especially foot surgery, where my movement is such a big thing, because on grass you’re in the wrong positions a lot of the time. You’ve got to have that confidence in your footwork.”

Ferrer Claims ATP Bastad Clay Title Over Almagro

Top seed David Ferrer won the all-Spanish SkiStar Swedish Open title in Bastad on Sunday, defeating No. 2 seed Nicolas Almagro 6-2, 6-2.

“It has been the best season of my career, I have won five titles,” Ferrer said. “I have never done this well and I am very happy for that. I work hard, I always fight every match and every year I try and improve on my game.

Ferrer improved to 11-0 career versus Almagro. Almagro dropped to 12-6 in career finals.

“Of course I have confidence [going into the Olympics],” Ferrer said. “I will have two days of relaxing and then next week I will practice on grass.”

Tipsarevic Beats Monaco for ATP Stuttgart Title

Top seed Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia defeated Argentina’s Juan Monaco 6-4, 5-7, 6-3 for the Mercedes Cup title in Stuttgart.

The third set saw a rain delay, and when play resumed Tipsarevic won three straight games from 3-3 to claim the championship.

“It wasn’t an easy match to play, considering the balls were flying everywhere,” Tipsarevic said. “It wasn’t really easy to be aggressive, but I felt I was the better player in the third set. I had a huge chance at 4-0 up in the second set, but instead of being more aggressive, I became passive. Luckily, I managed to come back.”

Tipsarevic improved to 3-6 in career finals, while Monaco dropped to 5-9 in career finals.