Haas, Wawrinka, Pavlyuchenkova Win Tennis Titles
35-year-old Haas Wins ATP Munich Crown
Former world No. 2 Tommy Haas at 35 years of age continued his improbably march to another Top 10 ranking on Sunday when he defeated defending champion Philipp Kohlschreiber 6-3, 7-6(3) for his 14th career title in his home country at the BMW Open in Munich, Germany.
ADHERER
Haas will rise to No. 13 on the ATP Rankings, and became the first 35 year old to win a title since Fabrice “The Magician” Santoro in 2008.
The No. 3-seeded Haas was broken serving for the match at 5-4 in the second but eventually rolled through the tiebreak to capture the title.
“It’s a sensational feeling to be quite honest,” Haas said. “It was another one of those milestones that I hoped for, to maybe win this title one year. To have done that, this late in my career, is a big highlight for me…He’s played well here before and was looking for his third crown and it was maybe my last opportunity to win the title here. So I gave myself a little bit of extra pressure.”
He improved to a 3-2 career against Kohlschreiber and 9-1 against his German countrymen since 2010.
Wawrinka Topples Ferrer for ATP Portugal Title; Pavlyuchenkova Wins Women’s
Swiss Stan Wawrinka put on a claycourt clinic in rolling over Spanish clay veteran David Ferrer 6-1, 6-4 on Sunday in the final of the Portugal Open.
“It was a challenge against a Top 4 player,” Wawrinka said. “I am very happy with the way I played today. I was really focused and I made it difficult for him on my serve.”
Wawrinka jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first set before closing it out 6-1, and in the second set broke Ferrer at 4-4 to improve to 4-7 in career finals.
“It is going to be tough to return to the Top 10, but I am definitely playing better than last year and I am improving,” the No. 16-ranked Wawrinka said. “Today, I got the confidence that I can beat a Top 4 player in a final, on a claycourt.”
For Wawrinka it was his first title since 2011, and Ferrer dropped to 20-18 in career finals.
Russian Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova captured the women’s title, defeating Spain’s Carla Suarez Navarro 7-5, 6-2 in the final.
“I had a slow start — I was a little bit disappointed about that, it was the third match this week I started like that,” said Pavlyuchenkova, who trailed 3-5 in the first set. “Also Carla was playing really well — it wasn’t easy to play my game because she was holding me back on the baseline, putting a lot of spin and moving me around.”
Pavlyuchenkova’s coach, former No. 1 Martina Hingis, provided some on-court coaching in the middle of the first set.
“I was complaining a little bit that these things weren’t working, so I think I just needed some positive words from Martina out there,” Pavlyuchenkova said. “She told me to keep playing my game and be more aggressive, and other things. It really helped.”
Pavlyuchenkova improved to 5-2 in career finals, while Suarez Navarro fell to 0-5.
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