MOSCOW: Home favourite Mikhail Youzhny and Italian veteran Francesca Schiavone both tasted victory in the two-million-dollar Kremlin Cup joint ATP and WTA event here today.

Third seed Youzhny rallied to beat Serbia’s Janko Tipsarevic in the men’s final, with Schiavone winning just the second title of her career by defeating Olga Govortsova of Belarus 6-3, 6-0.

Youzhny, playing in his 11th consecutive Kremlin Cup, won 6-7 (5/7), 6-0, 6-4 to extend the streak of successive Russian champions in the event to six and secure his first win over Tipsarevic in three encounters. The last non-Russian to win the men’s title here was American Taylor Dent in 2003.

Youzhny, 30th in the ATP rankings, looked more focused from the start, breaking his sixth-seeded rival’s serve early for a 3-0 advantage. But Tipsarevic broke back in the fifth game to level at three games all. The two players settled the opening set in a tie-break, which world No 46 Tipsarevic won.

In the second Youzhny broke his rival’s serve three times to win the set to love. Youzhny also began the deciding set with an immediate break. Tipsarevic fought hard trying to close the gap but Youzhny was in complete command and kept his lead intact throughout the set to seal his fifth career title.