Spain's Nicolas Almagro came through a tough three-setter to beat top seed and defending champion Robin Soderling in the final of the claycourt ATP Swedish Open here Sunday. The 24-year-old survived dropping the second set to win 7-5, 3-6, 6-2 in just under two hours. It was his sixth ATP title and his first of 2010. The first set saw the match going with serve until 5-5 when Soderling, the home favourite, came under pressure from the clay court specialist. The Swede saved three break points before giving Almagro the advantage. The Spaniard held to go one set up. Soderling, though, stepped up his game in the second set to level the match before handing over the advantage again in the third. The Swede had already beaten the Italian David Seppi and Spaniard David Ferrer in three sets to get to the final but this was a match too far as he dropped his service twice in succession to hand the title to Almagro. Montanes champion Spain's Albert Montanes collected his second ATP title of the season Sunday by beating Gael Monfils 6-2, 1-2 after the third-seeded Frenchman retired injured at the Mercedes Cup. The fifth-seeded Montanes needed just 55 minutes to claim his fifth win of his career and claim ¤72,150 ($61,000) and a new E-Class Mercedes convertible car. The 30th ranked Montanes had earlier defeated in-form Jurgen Melzer in the quarterfinals and former top-ranked Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero to reach the final in Stuttgart. “It was a fantastic week. This is a great victory for me and for all of Spain,” said Montanes. “It's an incredible year for Spain, in football, tennis and basketball. And I'm happy to have added more joy to my country.” The 17th ranked Monfils lost the first set in 33 minutes. He turned his right ankle in the final game, after which he had the tournament trainer tape it up. Monfils continued in the second set but conceded defeat during the change after a 2-1 lead. Montanes became the sixth Spanish winner in Stuttgart following Rafael Nadal (2007, 2005), David Ferrer (2006), Alex Corretja (1997), Alberto Berasategui (1994) and Jose Higueras (1983). Kanepi wins in Palermo Fifth-seeded Kaia Kanepi has beaten defending champion Flavia Pennetta in the final of the Palermo Open. The Estonian overcame a nervous start to win 6-4, 6-3 on Sunday. Top-seeded Pennetta broke the Wimbledon quarterfinalist in the first game but Kanepi broke back in the sixth to draw level at 3-3. She won the set with two more breaks. In the second set, Kanepi broke three times to lead 5-2. After Pennetta held her serve, Kanepi served out to win the match. Szavay rules in Prague Seventh-seeded Agnes Szavay has won her fifth career WTA title by beating Barbora Zahlavova Strycova 6-2, 1-6, 6-2 in the Prague Open final. Szavay broke the 24-year-old Czech in the opening game of Sunday's match and dominated the first set. The Hungarian also won the opening game of the second set but Zahlavova Strycova responded by taking six straight games in her first WTA final. In the final set, Zahlavova Strycova broke Szavay in the third game before Szavay fought back to win the match in one hour, 56 minutes. Atlanta event re-emerges Andy Roddick returns to Atlanta nearly a decade after winning the title as the event re-emerges onto the ATP calendar after a long hiatus to start the summer hardcourt run to the US Open. The American world No. 9 received a wild card for the hardcourt event nine years after winning its previous incarnation as a teenager in 2001.
