BY ALARIC GOMES

Staff Reporter

Dubai The Dubai Duty FreeWomen’s Open had a wor-thy new champion in theform of world No.1 LindsayDavenport as she got past abattling Jelena Jankovic 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 at the Dubai Ten-nis Stadium last night.

Shaikh Ahmad Bin SaeedAl Maktoum, President ofDubai Civil Aviation andChairman of EmiratesGroup, was the chief guestand handed over the tro-phy to the winners before apacked stadium.

This was a match worthyof a final as crowdfavourite Jankovic, ranked28th in the world, kept hernerve and poise beforefalling to the world’s bestplayer.

“It’s overwhelming towin this final,” a relievedDavenport stated afterpicking up the 46th careertitle of her career.

“It was a close match andit came down to a fewpoints in the end. I wantedto win this final so much,”added the 28-year-oldAmerican, who is on her13th year on the tour.

Davenport dictatedthings early as she brokethe Serbian girl for a 1-0lead. But the Americanfailed to build on this ad-vantage as Jelena broke andthen held serve to lead 2-1.

Davenport used her deepground strokes to maxi-mum utility to break her

opponent a second time inthe fifth game, and thenserved out for the set in 37minutes.

By the start of the secondset, Jankovic started get-ting her rhythm. But it wasthe American who onceagain showed the initiativeas she broke for a 2-1 lead.

However, Jankovic wasnot giving up easily as shebroke back and then heldher serve to lead onceagain 3-2.

Jankovic, 20, then brokeDavenport a second timeand then held serve to dis-tance herself for a 5-2 lead.

The American, who lost

to Serena Williams in theAustralian Open finals thisyear, held serve to trail 3-5.But with the crowd strong-ly behind her, Jankovicthen served out for the set6-3.

Going into third set,Jankovic was ready for agreat fight. She went after

everything Davenport sentdown, and with the Ameri-can struggling with herfirst serves, things seemedto be going the Serbian’sway.

The best moment of thematch was in the secondgame when Jankovic bal-anced two double faults tocap a final rally and holdserve for 1-1. With Daven-port’s game crumbling,Jankovic broke in the thirdfor a 2-1 lead. But, could notdo anything in the nextgame to hold serve as theyremained tied 2-2.

Staying with servesBoth players stayed with

their serves till Davenporttook the lead in the ninth tobe 5-4 ahead. With the longmatch taking its toll,Jankovic made one crucialunforced error to stay 0-30in arrears.

Davenport latched onthis and when Jankovicsent a double handed back-hand wide, the Americanthrew her arms in relief forsuch a hard-fought win.

Jankovic paid tribute toher American opponent.“She was simply unbeliev-able,” Jankovic said.

“She kind of destroyedme tonight. I couldn’t haveasked for more from my-self,” she added.

‘Both sides areunder pressure ’Sourav Ganguly says ‘97 SaharaCup turned his one-day career

C R I C K E T P 5 1

SPORTSUNDAY, MARCH 6, 2005 47

HADRIAN HERNANDEZ/Gulf News

T E N N I S In tandem Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain (front) returns as doublespartner Paola Suarez of Argentina looks on againstSvetlana Kuznetsova of Russia and Alicia Molik ofAustralia during the final of the Dubai Women’s Open.Pascual and Suarez rallied to win 6-7 (7), 6-2, 6-1.

HADRIAN HERNANDEZ/Gulf News

The X Factor Jelena Jankovic of Slovakia eyes a return against LindsayDavenport of the USA during their singles final at theDubai Tennis Stadium yesterday.

Boris comes to town Boris Becker, the tennis icon, poses with Saeed Hareb,chairman of Dubai International Marine Club, during a visitat the Hotel Mina Seyahi in Dubai yesterday.

AP

Country calls Indians Leander Paes (left) and Mahesh Bhupathicongratulate each other after winning their Davis Cupzonal doubles tie against China’s Wang Yu (right) and Zhu Ben-Qiang in New Delhi yesterday. The Indian pair,former world No 1 on the ATP Tour, won the match 7-6 (11),6-3, 3-6, 6-1 to give their country a 3-0 lead.

Reuters

Reaching out Russia's Marat Safin returns to Chile's Adrian Garciaduring their Davis Cup clash in Moscow on Friday. The tiewas deadlocked 1-1 after the first day’s play.

WAM & Al Bayan

Encouraging presenceHis Highness Shaikh Maktoum Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, attended the camel races at Nad Al Sheba yesterday alongwith Shaikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and Minister of Finance and Industry. The race is being held as part of the closing ceremony of the camel racingfestival. General Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Minister of Defence, meanwhile, attended the Super Saturday horse racing at the Nad Al Sheba in the evening, which is the last card before the World Cup later this month.

Horse racing report on Page 50

Maktoum, Hamdan and Mohammad attend sports events

IT’S OVERWHELMING TO WIN THIS FINAL, SAYS A RELIEVED WORLD NO 1

Davenport gets pastbattling Jankovic

T E N N I S

BY ALARIC GOMES

Staff Reporter

Dubai The world No 1 pair-ing of Virginia Ruano Pas-cual and Paola Suarez pow-ered their way to a 6-7 (7),6-2, 6-1 win against AliciaMolik and SvetlanaKuznetsova to pick up their27th doubles career crownat the Dubai Duty FreeWomen’s Open last night.

Ruano Pascual andSuarez looked a much bet-ter team on court and thatshowed as the match trick-led into the second set.

Smiling and enjoyingevery moment of their timetogether on court, Pascualand Suarez stuck to theirgame plan of keeping theAustralian and Russianpegged to the back of thecourt. Kuznetsova looked abit phased out on herserves, but with Molikkeeping her serves low anddeep, the pair managed tofight their way to 6-6 toforce the tie-break.

They were down 0-4 inthe tie-break, but managedto fight through for a 8-7lead and rightfully it wasMolik lending the finishingtouches to the set with adeep serve to Suarez’s right.

Ironically in the secondset, it was a complete turn-around as Pascual andSuarez latched on to someexciting play at the net toearn two service breaks onMolik’s serve for a 5-1 lead.

However, Molik andKuznetsova were far fromfinished as they fought backfor a break on Ruano Pas-cual’s serve to make it 2-5.But with Kuznetsova notshowing too much of confi-dence either in her groundstrokes or her net play, shewas broken for the firsttime in the match as RuanoPascual and Suarez took theset 6-2.

The winners whizzedthrough the third, gettingtheir breaks in the fourthand sixth games.

“We had come here to winthis title,” Pascual stated.“We will try to win as manytitles as possible during ourcareer,” added the pairwhich has enjoyed one oftheir best seasons last year.

Pascual andSuarez rallyto landdoubles title

Holders Spain out of Davis Cup

Bratislava, Sydney, Carson (AFP& Reuters) Davis Cup hold-ers Spain lost their title hereyesterday, crashing out inthe first round of the DavisCup World Group as Slova-kia took an unassailable 3-0lead.

The Slovakian pairing ofKarol Beck and MichalMertinak downed RafaelNadal — a hero of last year’sDavis Cup triumph — andformer French Open winnerAlbert Costa in straight sets7-6 (7/3), 6-4, 7-6 (10/8).

Slovakia — a two-timequarter-finalist — had wonthe opening day’s two sin-

gles rubbers. FelicianoLopez lost 6-4, 7-5, 6-3 toKarol Beck in two hours andfive minutes before Fernan-do Verdasco fell to DominikHrbaty 6-3, 6-4, 6-7 (7/9), 6-3in two hours 43 minutes.

Left-hander Lopez,ranked 19th in the world,had beaten Beck, ranked36th, in their only previousmeeting on a hard court inCanada two years ago. Butthe Spanish clay court spe-cialists found it difficult toadapt to the indoor carpetsurface here.

Australia clinched theirDavis Cup World Group

first round tie when ToddWoodbridge and WayneArthurs beat Austrians Jur-gen Melzer and JulianKnowle 4-6, 6-3, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5in the doubles at Sydney foran unbeatable 3-0 lead.

Elsewhere, Andy Roddickdefeated Mario Ancic 4-6 6-2 6-1 6-4 to help the USdraw level at 1-1 with Croat-ia in their first round DavisCup World Group tie afterthe opening singles on Fri-day. In the first match, IvanLjubicic spoiled AndreAgassi’s return to the com-petition with a 6-3, 7-6, 6-3win.

Australia build up 3-0 lead over Austria while Roddick helps the US draw level

Reuters

Losing outAndre Agassi of the US returns a backhand to Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic during their first round singles tie on Friday.

AP

Star billingLindsay Davenport of the United States holds the trophy after she defeated Serbia'sJelena Jankovic to win the final in the Dubai Open yesterday. Davenport won thematch 6-4, 3-6, 6-4.

R E S U LT S

Women’s singles final: LindsayDavenport (USA) bt Jelena Jankovic6-4, 3-6, 6-4.Doubles final: Virginia RuanoPascual/Paola Suarez bt SvetlanaKuznetsova/Alicia Molik 6-7 (7), 6-2, 6-1.

R E S U LT S

WORLD GROUP

First roundAt Bratislava: Slovakia 2 Spain 0At Fribourg: Switzerland 0Netherlands 2At Sydney: Australia 3 Austria 0 At Buenos Aires: Argentina 2 CzechRepublic 0At Moscow: Russia 1 Chile 1At Strasbourg: France 1 Sweden 1At Bucharest Romania 1 Belarus 1At Los AngelesUSA 1 Croatia 1