Schiavone wins WTA Kremlin Cup

MOSCOW: Italy's Francesca Schiavone won just the second title of her career here on Sunday by defeating Olga Govortsova of Belarus 6-3, 6-0 in the Kremlin Cup final.

The 29-year-old veteran, ranked 24th in the world and seeded eighth in Moscow, won in one hour 17 minutes to record her second win in three head-to-head meetings with Govortsova.

The finalists traded breaks throughout a closely-fought first set, but it was Schiavone, the 2005 runner-up here, who was the more consistent.

She broke her rival's serve three times for a one-set lead in 47 minutes, while Govortsova managed to just two breaks.

In the second set Govortsova, currently 67th in the WTA rankings, lost her nerve completely allowing the experienced Schiavone to break three more times to win the set to love.

"In the first set we were pretty close battling for every single point," Schiavone said. "But in the end I was a bit more precise and served well when it was 5-3 to win the set."

"I won! And I'm happy!" claimed Schiavone who had won only one of her previous 10 WTA tournament finals at Bad Gastein in 2007.

At the award ceremony Schiavone, who was playing in her seventh Kremlin Cup, praised the Moscow public for their support throughout the week.

Schiavone received a silver trophy and a prize purse of 157,427 dollars, while runner-up Govortsova, who lost her second career final, pocketed 83,908 of prize dollars.

Third seed Russian Mikhail Youzhny and Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia, who was seeded sixth, will decide Kremlin Cup winner in the ATP section of the event later on Sunday.