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DUBAI, Feb 26: Justine Henin-Hardenne won her 25th career title on Saturday when she defeated Maria Sharapova 7-5 6-2 in the final of the Dubai Open.
It was the fourth-seeded Belgian’s third Dubai title and her second tournament victory of the year after winning in Sydney and finishing as runner-up at the Australian Open in Melbourne.
She also remains unbeaten in her 12 matches in Dubai.
Third seed Sharapova was denied her 11th career title in her first final since she won on grass in Birmingham in June.
Since that victory, the 18-year-old Russian had lost six straight semifinals, including those of Wimbledon, the U.S. Open and the Australian Open, until her win over Lindsay Davenport on Friday. #
FIRST TITLE FOR STEPANEK
ROTTERDAM (The Netherlands): Radek Stepanek earned his first career title when he landed the 765,000-euro Rotterdam Open on Sunday.
The 23rd-ranked Czech broke his trophy duck in 45 minutes as he crushed Belgium’s Christophe Rochus 6-0, 6-3 with a minimum of effort.
Little could detract from the thrill of victory for Stepanek, who survived to the last at an event which lost 14 players to withdrawals or injuries.
Friday results (semifinals)
Christophe Rochus bt Jarkko Nieminen 6-4, 6-3; Radek Stepanek bt Nikolay Davydenko 4-6, 6-3, 6-3
Memphis results
MEMPHIS (Tennessee): Collated results on Saturday in the $865,000 ATP-WTA tournament.
Men (semifinals)
Robin Soderling (SWE) bt Kristof Vliegen (BEL) 7-5, 2-6, 7-6 (7/5); Tommy Haas (GER) bt Julien Benneteau (FRA) 6-3, 6-1
Women (final): Sofia Arvidsson (SWE) bt Marta Domachowska (POL) 6-2, 2-6, 6-3.—Agencies
