Zvonareva beats Srebotnik to lift Cincinnati title

July 24, 2006 12:16 IST

Russia's Vera Zvonareva rounded off a week of upsets with a 6-2 6-4 victory over Katarina Srebotnik of Slovenia to win the Cincinnati Open on Sunday.

Zvonareva's second title of the year was well-earned. The unseeded Russian knocked out seventh seed Tatiana Golovin, fifth seed Jelena Jankovic and former world number one Serena Williams in her march to the final.

The 21-year-old needed just 56 minutes to beat fourth seed Srebotnik and collect her fifth career title.

The Russian world number 50 took control after breaking Srebotnik to go ahead 3-2. She raced away with the first set and was quickly 2-0

up in the second.

Srebotnik, who reached her first final of the season with a semi-final win over defending champion Patty Schnyder, stopped the tailspin when she held serve at 2-1.

The Slovenian continued to battle, finally breaking Zvonareva to get level at 3-3. But the Russian broke straight back twice to close out the match.

(Writing by Steve Keating in Toronto)

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