Spain's Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario regained her World No. 2 ranking by rallying in gusting winds Sunday to win the $450,000 Rexona Cup over Conchita Martinez 4-6, 7-6 (7-4), 6-0.
Sanchez-Vicario, who won the tournament for the third time, will reclaim her spot as world No. 2 from Martinez in next week's ranking, just one week after her compatriot had wrestled the spot away.Martinez appeared to have her first title of 1996 in hand when she led 4-1 in the second set, using her forehand to pile up winners, as both players struggled against wind gusts.
But Sanchez-Vicario, renowned for her fighting spirit, turned the match around two games later with an aggressive streak, rushing the net to break the 1994 Wimbledon winner's serve.
At Prague, Czech Republic, second-seeded Yevgeny Kafelnikov of Russia beat defending champion Czech Bohdan Ulihrach 7-5, 1-6, 6-3, to win the $360,000 Czech Open clay court tournament Sunday.
It was Kafelnikov's second title this year. The No. 8 ATP-ranked Russian won the Adelaide tournament in April.
Kafelnikov then suffered a string of first-round upsets on clay courts in Estoril, Barcelona and Monte Carlo last week, complaining of a virus.
At Munich, Germany, Slava Dosedel of the Czech Republic made Carlos Moya his latest upset victim Sunday, sweeping past the young Spaniard in three sets to capture the BMW Open.
The unseeded Dosedel, who had earlier ousted Goran Ivanisevic and Boris Becker, beat Moya 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 to win the $400,000 tournament.
Dosedel, No. 73 in the world, took control of the match when he broke Moya's serve in the sixth game of the final set.
Moya, 19, had established himself as a rising star on clay in Saturday's semifinal when he snapped Thomas Muster's 38-match winning streak on the surface.
But against Dosedel, he displayed little of the precision, forehand power and slashing strokes that defeated Muster, 6-3, 6-3, and earlier had carried him into the semifinals at Barcelona.
At Atlanta, Karim Alami became the first player from Morocco to win an ATP event with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Nicklas Kulti on Sunday in the $328,000 AT&T Challenge.
Alami, who beat defending champion Michael Chang in Saturday's semifinals, relied on his impressive serve, which topped out at 126 mph.