David Ferrer bounces back from Andy Murray defeat to win Swedish Open

Published on 16/07/2012 02:29

David Ferrer, beaten in the last eight at Wimbledon by Andy Murray, saw off fellow Spaniard Nicolas Almagro in straight sets to win the Swedish Open final in Bastad.

Ferrer, the world No 5, secured his fifth ATP title of the year – and second in Bastad after his triumph in 2007 – as he cruised to a comfortable 6-2, 6-2 win in just 68 minutes.

Two breaks of service in either set did the damage for Ferrer, who faced just one break point in the match as a listless Almagro failed to threaten.

The defeat continued world No 10 Almagro’s miserable record against Ferrer, which now stands at 11 losses in as many meetings.

Wimbledon women’s champion Serena Williams advanced to the Stanford Classic final after she crushed Sorana Cirstea 6-1, 6-2 and was due to meet fellow American Coco Vandeweghe, who made her first WTA final after she overpowered Yanina Wickmayer 6-2, 3-6, 6-2.

Williams struggled with her service against Cirstea but easily controlled the tempo of the match against the Romanian, who had trouble keeping the ball in court and committed 32 unforced errors.

Williams broke Cirstea four times in the match and only faced one break point, which she easily fought off.

Nevertheless, she said: “I really wasn’t happy today but I did what I had to do to win and that’s important.

A first serve rate of just 38 per cent saw her head straight for the practice courts afterwards and she added: “I’m just trying to get something, and I feel like I haven’t served well all week and 38 percent is outrageous.”

A lucky loser, the 20-year-old Vandeweghe used her massive serve and big ground strokes to upset the fifth seed Wickmayer, nailing 12 aces of her 32 winners overall.

The 6ft 1in tall Vandeweghe, the daughter of a former Olympic swimmer, came out firing and immediately broke the Belgian with a backhand winner, then broke her again to take a 5-2 lead before she closed out the set with three service winners and a forehand down the line.

Wickmayer rallied in the second set, breaking Vandeweghe to 2-0 when the American erred on a forehand, and then successfully sat on the lead with precise ground strokes.

But Vandeweghe regained her edge in the third set, grabbing a break to 3-1 when Wickmayer double-faulted. The Belgian held four break points in the next game, but Vandeweghe used her booming serve to get out of trouble, taking care of two of the break points with aces.