Caroline Wozniacki will take the top seed and the confidence of a third straight WTA title in New Haven into the US Open next week. The Dane defeated Russian eighth seed Nadia Petrova 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 Saturday to claim a third consecutive crown in the Pilot Pen hard court tournament, the last event before the start of the US Open Monday. It was the second title of the week for 20-year-old Wozniacki, who earned a title in the rain-disrupted event in Montreal Monday. The world No. 2 collected 98,500 dollars for the New Haven victory. Petrova, who received a wild-card into the New Haven draw, battled from behind throughout. After knotting the match at one set each she dropped her first service game in the third set. She broke back, but was broken again in the eighth game and Wozniacki served out the match to take her unbeaten record in New Haven to 13-0. In Saturday night's men's final, Ukrainian Sergiy Stakhovsky was to face Uzbekistan's Denis Istomin. Venus, Clijsters defend schedule Former number ones Kim Clijsters and Venus Williams supported their schedule Saturday, dismissing John McEnroe comments that women should play fewer events to handle tennis' physical and mental demands. McEnroe cited injuries to top players that have sidelined such stars as Serena Williams and Justine Henin from the US Open that starts Monday, saying last week women should curtail their schedule so they could stay healthy. “You're asking too much of the women. They shouldn't be playing as many events as men,” McEnroe said. “They should be required to be in less events. There should be less events for the women. It seems it takes an actual meltdown on the court or women quitting the game altogether before they realize there's a need to change.”
