Los Angeles, July 31 :

Germany’s Tommy Haas won his third title of the year and second Los Angeles championship in three years when he beat Russian Dmitry Tursunov 4-6, 7-5, 6-3 in the Countrywide Classic on Sunday.

Sixth-seeded Haas bounced back from a first-set loss to keep the pressure on eighth-seeded Tursunov, who was playing in his first tour final.

The 23-year-old Russian won the first set with hard, accurate groundstrokes, but his game began unraveling in the 12th game of the second.

A forehand long, a carom off his racket frame, and another forehand into the net by Tursunov helped Haas break his serve and tie the match at a set apiece.

Haas broke Tursunov’s serve again in the second game of the third set, then held serve for the rest of the way to add the 2006 Los Angeles championship to the one he won here in 2004.

The win was Haas’ third in as many matches against Tursunov. Both finalists have lived much of their lives in the United States. Haas, a native of Hamburg, has been in Bradenton, Florida since he was 13. Tursunov, who lives in Roseville, California came over from Moscow when he was 12.

BW Classic

STANFORD: Clijsters won her fourth Bank of the West Classic title in six years on Sunday, effortlessly beating Patty Schnyder 6-4, 6-2 to stay unbeaten in the event since 2002.

The hardcourt specialist got off to another sterling start in the five events leading up to the US Open, where she won her first Grand Slam title last year. The well-heeled crowd at the tournament on Stanford University’s campus cheered loudly for its local favorite during a 52-minute match — her shortest of the week.

Clijsters won the tournament in 2001 and 2003, missed the event with an injury one year later, and then repeated her title last year, beating Venus Williams. If Clijsters makes good on her vow to retire after next season, she’ll be sorely missed at the Taube Family Tennis Center.

In addition to appearing in promotional events, she also was spotted tooling around Palo Alto on a Vespa scooter with Sebastien Bourdais, the French Champ Car driver.