Sunday, September 16, 2001
[ TENNIS ]
WAIKOLOA >> Justine Henin and Sandrine Testud face off today in a tournament final for the second time this season. Henin and Testud meet in final
Star-Bulletin wire services
Top-seeded Henin, of Belgium, beat No. 4 seed Lisa Raymond, 6-2, 6-2 yesterday at the Big Island Championships to reach her fifth final this year.
Henin has won three of four finals, including a victory over Testud in straight sets at the Australian Women's Hardcourt Championships in January. Henin's only loss in a finale was to Venus Williams at Wimbledon.
Testud, the No. 2 seed from France, rolled over American Marissa Irvin, 6-0, 6-1 yesterday for her third chance at a tournament title this year.
Despite the loss to Testud, Irvin had her best tournament finish of the year. Irvin, ranked 93rd in the world, had won just five of 17 matches entering the tournament.
Seles wins Brazil Open: At Salvador, Brazil, Monica Seles won the $1.025 million Brazil Open, beating Yugoslavia's Jelena Dokic 6-3, 6-3.
This was the first title for the top-seeded Seles since February.
Earlier, Jan Vacek of the Czech Republic and Fernando Meligeni of Brazil advanced to today's men's final.
Safin, Kafelnikov in all-Russian final: At Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Marat Safin and Yevgeny Kafelnikov won semifinals to set up the first all-Russian final at the $550,000 President's Cup tennis tournament.
Safin, the defending champion and seeded No. 1, beat Sargis Sargsian of Armenia 6-7 (3), 6-3, 7-6 (5). The second seeded Kafelnikov eliminated Dominik Hrbaty of Slovakia 6-7 (6), 6-2, 7-6 (8).
El Aynaoui, Montanes meet in final: At Bucharest, Romania, after observing a day of mourning for U.S. victims of terrorism, the Gelsor Open resumed with Albert Montanes of Spain and Younes El Aynaoui of Morocco advancing to the final.
Montanes defeated sixth-seeded Jerome Golmard and El Aynaoui, seeded seventh, downed Fernando Vicente.
The quarterfinals and semifinals were played on the same day. There were no matches Friday in tribute to the victims of terrorist attacks.