BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP)â€"Defending champion Nicolas Almagro will meet fellow Spaniard David Ferrer in the Copa Claro final.
No. 2 seed Almagro defeated Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 6-4, 3-6, 7-5 on Saturday, and No. 1 Ferrer cruised past local favorite David Nalbandian of Argentina 6-1, 6-4.
Almagro won the Brazil Open last weekend for his 11th ATP titleâ€"all on clayâ€"and will go for No. 12 on Sunday.
MONTERREY, Mexico (AP)â€"Timea Babos of Hungary won her first WTA title Sunday with a 6-4, 6-4 victory over Alexandra Cadantu of Romania in the Monterrey Open final.
The 18-year-old Babos got one of her two breaks late in the second set to clinch the victory at the Sierra Madre Tennis Club.
She dominated when serving, not allowing a single break point to the 21-year-old Cadantu. Babos, ranked 107th in the world, had five aces.
Babos made the semifinals at Bogota last week, but before that she had only one main draw win. Cadantu had just one main draw win heading into Monterrey.
Babos defeated second-seeded Sara Errani of Italy in the semifinals, while the 110th-ranked Cadantu beat Hungary's Greta Arn.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)â€"Agnieszka Radwanska of Poland won her eighth career WTA title, defeating Julia Goerges of Germany 7-5, 6-4 in the Dubai Tennis Championships final on Saturday.
Radwanska will rise one place to a career-best No. 5 when the world rankings are released Monday.
The fifth-seeded Radwanska led in both sets but it took her almost 2 hours to overcome the unseeded Goerges.
The German rallied on her powerful forehand, but Radwanska patiently remained on the baseline to watch Goerges’ unsuccessful forays to the net, rushing her shots and returning them long and wide.
Radwanska led 4-1 in the second set. Goerges won three more games before Radwanska wrapped up the second win over her in a month.
“Her forehandâ€"it’s a very big weapon,†Radwanska said. “It’s just going so fast and sometimes, you know, I couldn’t even like move the right way and the ball was already behind me.â€
Goerges was hoping to make up for the loss to Radwanska in the fourth round of the Australian Open.
“I’m not disappointed because it was a big step in the right direction for me,†Goerges said. “She’s a top-five player … I don’t think that I did so many things wrong.â€
Radwanska improved her record to 15-3 on the year, with the three losses to top-ranked Victoria Azarenka. She pulled out of the Dubai tournament because of an ankle injury.
Radwanska said she was pleased with her move in the rankings, but there’s a long way to the top spot.
“Well, you know, yeah, I’m 5, but it’s still far from being No. 1,†Radwanska said. “Looks pretty close, but it’s still far.
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP)â€"David Ferrer won the Copa Claro on Sunday, downing defending champion Nicolas Almagro 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 in an all-Spanish final.
The fifth-ranked Ferrer earned his 13th ATP tour title.
Ferrer opened the second set with a break and held serve to send the match to a third set.
The second-seeded Almagro had a couple of chances to break in the second game of the final set, but Ferrer held and broke in the next game and again at 3-1.
MARSEILLE, France (AP)â€"Jo-Wilfried Tsonga edged Edouard Roger-Vasselin 6-4, 7-5 Friday to reach the semifinals of the Open 13.
Tsonga fired 14 aces and saved 10 break points in an all-French match.
The top-seeded Tsonga dropped serve in the opening game but broke back in the sixth. He hit 18 winners to 11 for Roger-Vasselin to take the first set when his opponent netted a forehand volley.
Roger-Vasselin double-faulted at 6-5 in the next set to give Tsonga two match points. Tsonga converted the first on a forehand error.
MONTERREY, Mexico (AP)â€"Sara Errani breezed into the semifinals of the Monterrey Open with a 6-1, 6-2 win over Luxembourg’s Mandy Minella on Friday.
The second-seeded Italian has lost only 12 games across three matches at the tournament, and progressed to a semifinal against Hungary’s Timea Babos. Babos beat Austria’s Patricia Mayr-Achleitner 6-4, 6-2.
Another Hungarian, Greta Arn, also moved into the semifinals with a 6-1, 7-6 (6) win over Russia’s Nina Bratchikova.
The sixth-seeded Arn will next face Romanian Alexandra Cadantu, who routed Spain’s Lourdes Dominguez-Lino 6-2, 6-0.
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP)â€"Jurgen Melzer capped his amazing run through the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships with a broken right big toe by beating Milos Raonic of Canada 7-5, 7-6 (4) on Sunday for his fourth career title and first since 2010.
Melzer ran over and hugged his coach, Joakim Nystrom, in the front row after finishing off the victory. Back troubles knocked Melzer from eighth in the world last spring to 38th coming into Memphis.
The Austrian broke his toe Feb. 16 when he caught his foot in a hotel bedspread in the middle of the night. He responded by ousting top-seeded John Isner and No. 3 seed Radek Stepanek before downing Raonic, who was trying to win his third title this year and second in two weeks.
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP)â€"Roger Federer blames a loss of confidence for failing to add to his record 16 Grand Slam titles in more than two years.
The former No. 1 last won a major title at the 2010 Australian Open but denies his form has been in decline, instead attributing that to “a bit of confidence not on my side and on my opponent’s side.â€
“I’ve had some tough losses over the past couple of years,†Federer said, without nominating any specific matches.
Federer is in the United Arab Emirates along with No. 1 Novak Djokovic and fourth-ranked Andy Murray to play in the Dubai Championships, which start Monday.
Having broken Pete Sampras’ mark of 14 Grand Slam singles titles, Federer missed out on breaking the American’s 286-week reign at No. 1 by a single week. Now ranked third, the Swiss star has no realistic chance of the record with Djokovic so dominant.
“It would be great having that record but my life is very much OK without it, too,†Federer said. “Pete is a good friend and was an amazing champion for our game. I don’t need to break every record he has. I came so close and I could have chased it if I had wanted to. I didn’t choose to.â€
Federer still believes he can return to No. 1, however, noting that he has won three titles in the past four monthsâ€"the most recent in Rotterdam earlier this month.
“I feel if I play really well until the U.S. Open, then obviously there is a shot. But then again there is a shot for about 10 players,†Federer said. “I am aware I’m not the only one. But I feel like I’m on a good run right now. I’ve won a lot of tournaments in a short time, which gives me a lot of confidence.â€
MARSEILLE, France (AP) Juan Martin Del Potro beat Michael Llodra of France 6-4, 6-4 in the Open 13 final Sunday for his first title of the season.
The former U.S. Open champion from Argentina won for the 10th time in his career. Del Potro lost to Roger Federer in his last two tournaments.
Del Potro had 11 aces against Llorda, who won this tournament in 2010.
Del Potro briefly wobbled at 0-30 down when serving for the match, but closed it when Llodra netted a forehand. Llodra lost his serve once in each set and could not force a single break-point chance against the big-serving Argentine,
