Top-seeded Michael Chang successfully defended his Legg Mason Classic title Sunday, beating second-seeded Petr Korda of the Czech Republic 5-7, 6-2, 6-1.
Chang, No. 2 in the world, has won five tournaments this season to raise his career total to 31. He leads the ATP Tour with a 41-10 record this year, and is 28-3 on hardcourt surfaces."This is a confidence booster to me," Chang said. "The past couple of months I've been struggling a little. It's good to get off to a great start for the summer."
Korda, ranked No. 21, will break back into the top 20 on Monday for the first time since Feb. 6, 1995.
A former top-10 player coming back from two groin operations, Korda fought off seven break points, and broke Chang in the 12th game to take the first set. But the Czech star was not able to overcome Chang's baseline game and the hot afternoon conditions.
"I think if I had energy (Chang) would have had a heck of a time beating me," Korda said. "If you don't have legs and energy, you can't beat a Michael Chang."
Chang broke Korda to open the second set and seemed content to sit back and run the 29-year-old around the court. Korda, able to make some brilliant shots in the first set, became more erratic as the match wore on.
"Breaking to open the second set was pretty crucial," Chang said.
Korda had nine double faults and 64 unforced errors in the 1 hour, 57 minute match. Chang had just one double fault and 13 unforced errors.
By the time Chang broke again to take a 5-2 lead in the second set, Korda was requesting leg massages from the ATP Tour trainer during the changeover.
Korda spent part of the third set walking around in circles trying to regain his strength. At double-break point in the third game, Korda was given a time violation as he collected himself.
The extra time didn't help as the fatigued Korda double-faulted the game away and in frustration smashed the ball high into the air.
Chang won the final four games to remain a perfect 5-for-5 in finals this season. He also won at Memphis, Tenn.; Indian Wells, Calif.; Hong Kong; and Orlando, Fla., with all of the victories except Orlando on hardcourts.
Chang earned $90,000 to increase his season total to $955,920.
A&P Tennis Classic
MAHWAH, N.J. - Fourth-seeded Chanda Rubin beat second-seeded Anna Kournikova 6-7 (7-2), 6-4, 7-6 (7-4) on Sunday for her second A&P Tennis Classic title in three years.
"I just tried to just stay in there and keep trying to win games and points," said Rubin, unable to defend her title in the exhibition tournament last year because of an injury. "It's just one of those things where just staying and hanging and not giving up helps you more than anything else."
Rubin was down a service break once in the second set and twice in the third before rallying against Kournikova, a 16-year-old Russian who reached the Wimbledon semifinals earlier this month.
"I tried in this match and in the tournament everything that I wanted to try - different shots, different everything," said Kournikova, who routed Rubin 6-1, 6-1 in the first round of Wimbledon. "I didn't just want to win. I wanted to do what I decided I wanted to do."
After Kournikova pulled within 5-4 in the final-set tiebreaker, Rubin countered with two service winners - first serving wide to Kournikova's forehand and then going to her backhand for match point.
"It's good for me on a personal level to close this one out" Rubin said. "It doesn't count on the tour, but it's a match that we both wanted to win and we obviously played as hard as we could."
Czech Open
PRAGUE, Czech Republic - Joanette Kruger of South Africa beat Austria's Marion Maruska in two quick sets Sunday to win the Czech Open ladies' clay court tournament in Prague.
After a five-hour rain delay, Kruger took only 59 minutes to beat the Austrian 6-1, 6-1. She took home $26,000 in prize money.
Both players had moved to the finals earlier in the day by winning semifinal matches that had been postponed Saturday because of rain.
Kruger outplayed Veronika Martinek of Germany 7-5, 6-1, and Maruska defeated Romania's Catalina Cristea 6-2, 6-1 in the semifinals.
Mercedes Cup
STUTTGART, Germany - Alex Corretja of Spain beat Karol Kucera of Slovakia on Sunday to win the $1.04 million Mercedes Cup tournament - his third clay court title of the season.
The third seeded Corretja, who earlier Sunday defeated fellow Spaniard Albert Costa in a rain-delayed semifinal match, needed 1 hour and 29 minutes to dispose of Kucera, 6-2, 7-5.
Kucera also had to play an early Sunday semifinal and prevented an all-Spanish final by defeating Albert Portas, 6-4, 6-3.
Corretja, who also won the Italian Open and at Estoril this year, took home the champions check of $157,000 and a new Mercedes CLK 230. Kucera earned $82,000.