SAN JOSE, Feb 14: World number three Andy Roddick successfully defended his San Jose Open title by destroying un seeded Frenchman Cyril Saulnier 6-0 6-4 in the final on Sunday.
The top-seeded American never faced a break point as he controlled the match with his mighty serving, huge forehand and aggressive returns. "I was feeling really good on everything," Roddick told reporters. "It was one of those days that happen maybe five percent a year, where you play really good tennis."
Roddick broke Saulnier in the opening game and never looked back. The Frenchman raised his game in the second set without managing to get a grip of his opponent's serve.
Roddick broke to lead 2-1 when Saulnier missed an easy forehand pass and he won the final game to love by ripping a winner down the line. Roddick had 23 winners, nine of which were aces, and made only eight unforced errors as he claimed his first title since he won in Indianapolis last July.
The 22-year-old Roddick has a 10-1 record this year, his only defeat coming against Lleyton Hewitt in the semi-finals of the Australian Open. Roddick is the first back-to-back winner here since Australian Mark Philippoussis in 1999-2000. He struggled all week but finally found his form in his semi-final with German Tommy Haas. He was almost faultless against Saulnier.
TITLE FOR GAUDIO
BUENOS AIRES: French Open champion Gaston Gaudio clinched his second title in a week on Sunday when he defeated Argentinian compatriot Mariano Puerta 6-4, 6-4 in the final of the ATP tournament here. The top seeded Gaudio, who also won the Vina del Mar event in Chile last weekend, collected his fifth career crown.
Wildcard Puerta had beaten top seed Carlos Moya on his way to the final but the world ranked 117 player rarely threatened Gaudio who will be seeking another clay court title in the coming week at the 380,000 dollar event in Bahia in Brazil. Gaudio is top seed again in the absence of defending champion Gustavo Kuerten who is still recovering from hip surgery.
JOHANSSON TRIUMPHS
MARSEILLE: Sweden's Joachim Johansson, seeded three, won the 600,000-euro ATP indoor event beating Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia 7-5, 6-4 here on Sunday. This was the in-form Johansson's second title of the year - and his third overall - after his success in Adelaide last month and will push him into the top ten for the first time.
The final represented a stand-off between two big hitters with Ljubicic - who was suffering from bronchitis - fancying his chances after seeing off the Swede on their two previous meetings. It proved a balanced affair with the first ten games going to serve before Johansson finally broke to go 6-5, then serving out for 7-5.
The imposing Johansson who measures 1.88m broke to go 3-2 up in the second set, a game that proved decisive as he went on to wrap up his win and uphold his record of not dropping his serve here this week. In all he fired down 19 aces in the final compared to 13 for Ljubicic. -Agencies
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