Veteran Russian Svetlana Kuznetsova breezed past Monica Puig to win her 16th career title with a straight sets victory (6-0, 6-2) in the final of the Sydney International Friday. It capped a memorable tournament for Kuznetsova, who upset world No. 2 Simona Halep in a rain-interrupted semifinal earlier Friday 7-6 (7/5), 4-6, 6-3 in two hours 44 minutes. Puig had an easy ride into the final when Swiss eighth seed Belinda Bencic retired with an illness after losing the opening set 6-0. Rain seriously disrupted the tournament's program Thursday and the two women's semifinals were held over until Friday with Halep leading 5-4 when play was suspended. Sania Mirza and Martina Hingis lifted their second trophy of the season as they won here defeating Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic 1-6, 7-5, 10-5 Friday. This was their 30th win in-a-row. No. 3-seeded Victor Troicki and No. 4 Grigor Dimitrov will meet in the Sydney men's final after a day featuring quarterfinals and semifinals, with organizers catching up following rain delays. Troicki beat Nicolas Mahut 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 in the quarterfinals and then had a 3-6, 6-4, 6-4 win over Teymuraz Gabashvili, who reached the semifinals when Bernard Tomic retired from their quarterfinal because of possible food poisoning. Dimitrov advanced by overcoming Alexandr Dolgopolov 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the quarterfinals and then Gilles Muller 6-2, 7-6 (4) in the semis. In Auckland, Jack Sock ended David Ferrer's hopes of a fifth singles title when he beat the top-seeded Spaniard 3-6, 6-1, 6-2 in the ASB Classic semifinals Friday. Sock's opponent in Saturday's final will be another Spaniard, the eight-seeded Robert Bautista Agut, who completed the rout of the top seeds, beating second-seeded Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 3-6, 7-6 (3), 6-4. At the Hobart International, Eugenie Bouchard advanced to the final with a 6-1, 4-6, 6-4 win over third-seeded Dominika Cibulkova of Slovakia. Bouchard will play seventh-seeded Alize Cornet of France, who beat Johanna Larsson of Sweden 6-1, 6-1. Belgian David Goffin put the final polish on his game for the Australian Open by beating explosive Spaniard Feliciano Lopez 6-4, 6-2 Friday to win the Kooyong Classic. The world No. 16 overcame a lightning start from Lopez, three behind him in the rankings, with the Spaniard producing love games on his first two serves before simmering down. In the playoff for third and fourth place, Spain's Pablo Carreno-Busta defeated Frenchman Gilles Simon 6-4, 3-6, 10-3. — Agencies
