Top seed Lindsay Davenport defeated Switzerland's Patty Schnyder 7-6, 6-3 to win the Zurich Open on Sunday, her sixth title of the season.
The American's tally puts her in second place this year behind the eight titles of Belgian Kim Clijsters, and Sunday's victory was her third tournament win in six weeks after triumphs in Bali and Filderstadt.
Davenport's victory also continued her remarkable run at this event. She has now claimed four Zurich titles and in her six appearances has never failed to reach the final.
Her only defeats were by Martina Hingis in 2000 and by Schnyder in 2002.
"You never get sick of winning," said Davenport, who will return to the number one ranking on Monday. "It wasn't the easiest tournament I've ever won. Today was tough.
"She mixes up the ball so much you never really get any rhythm, and finally I got a little more consistent and was able to win the big points today."
| |||||||||||
She often looked sluggish and was unable to overpower her opponent, who showed no sign of being intimidated playing for the title in front of her home supporters.
Both players had difficulty holding serve in most of the early games, and Davenport had to hold off break points when down 2-1 and 3-2 before breaking Schnyder to love to lead 4-3.
Davenport then served for the set at 5-4 but she netted a forehand to set up break point and Schnyder hit a winning forehand to level at 5-5.
Davenport was soon in danger of dropping the set when sixth seeded Schnyder led 6-5 and 40-0 on the American's serve.
ALMOST BACKFIRED
But Davenport won the next five points to take the set to a tiebreak, which she edged 7-5.
With neither player able to take command, the second set also remained closely contested.
After the first three games went against serve, Davenport broke to level at 3-3, and in a lengthy game at 4-3 the top seed earned another vital break when Schnyder netted a forehand.
"This whole week wasn't easy," said Davenport, who saved two match points against Daniela Hantuchova in the second round.
"I expected tough matches and got them. It was a really up and down match, but I finally felt at the end from being down 3-1 to win that set 6-3 I was a little more consistent, a little more aggressive, and I was able to finish off the match strong. That was important.
"I didn't make it easy on myself, flying back home from Germany and coming back late, and it almost backfired in my first match. But I've been able to get better as the week went on."
Schnyder was disappointed she had not been able to capitalise on her set points, but admitted she was second best on the day.
"It's just like that sometimes," she said. "I faced an opponent today who was just ready for everything I had today, and she was maybe lucky in the first set to win it but she was definitely better over the two sets."
More from rediff