Moscow, Oct 06: America's big-serving Taylor Dent won the title in the ATP section of the 2.3-million-dollar Kremlin Cup tennis tournament in his first appearance, beating Armenia's Sargis Sargsian in straight sets here yesterday.
Earlier Russia's Anastasia Myskina won her second consecutive WTA title, beating Amelie Mauresmo of France 6-2, 6-4 in the women's competition.
The 22-year-old Dent, who won the inaugural Thailand Open last week, defeated the 30-year-old veteran Sargsian 7-6 (7/5), 6-4 in their first ever meeting, to clinch his third year's and fourth career tile.
The opponents, both unseeded here, kept their serves throughout the opening set to force a tiebreak, which Dent won 7-5 to go 1-0 up after 53 minutes on court. In the second set Dent picked up steam to break early to grab a comfortable 3-1 lead.
Sargsian, who saw off the second seed Agustino Calleri in the quarter-final, fought hard to level, but to no avail as Dent kept his advantage through to win the set and the match in 1hr 31min.



He has now won 10 successive matches on tour. After the match Dent was awarded a silver trophy by Cartier and a 133,000-dollar cheque, with Sargsian earning 78,250 dollars.



"I'd like to thank the public for supporting us both. It was a tough match as Sargis played very well," Dent said. "I hope next year when I'll return to defend my title here the public's support will be on my side."


Bureau Report