Davenport lifts Zurich Open title

ZURICH (Switzerland)—Top-seeded Lindsay Davenport won the Zurich Open for the fourth time Sunday, beating Switzerland’s Patty Schnyder 7-6 (5), 6-3.
Davenport, who will return to the No. 1 ranking Monday, lost to Schnyder in the 2002 Zurich final.
“You never get sick of winning, that could never happen,” Davenport said. “It was a struggle. It wasn’t the easiest tournament I’ve ever won”.
This was the sixth title of the year for Davenport, whose three previous matches all went to three sets. The American saved two match points in the second round against Slovakia’s Daniela Hantuchova.
Davenport’s only two defeats in this tournament have been in the final against Schnyder and another Swiss, Martina Hingis.
On Sunday, Davenport struggled to hold serve. She broke Schnyder to love in the seventh game, but the sixth-seeded Swiss broke back with a passing shot off Davenport’s smash to set up a tiebreaker.
“She was maybe lucky in the first set, a little bit, to win it,” Schnyder said. “Sometimes it’s like that”.
The players traded breaks at the start of the second set. Schnyder went up 3-1 and Davenport broke at 3-3 after Schnyder had saved three break points. Davenport won five games in a row to close the match.
“Her game is so dominant,” Schnyder said. “It’s very tough to stay with her”.—Agencies