Michael Llodra defeated Guillermo Garcia-Lopez 7-5, 6-2 to win his second ATP World Tour grass-court title at the AEGON International.

"It's always a pleasure to win a title,” said Llodra. “It doesn't happen every week so you have to enjoy it when it happens. It's been a great week and I felt good from the beginning. I know I can play well on grass but you still have to do the job out there on the court. 6-5 in the first set was a great time to break. I knew if I stayed focussed I would get my chances and at 6-5 it came my way. Then it helped to serve first in the second set.”

Garcia-Lopez, who was playing his first ATP World Tour grass-court final said: “Of course it's disappointing to lose today. Whenever you get to a final you want to win the title, but the positive is that I have had a really good week and got a lot of matches. Last year I got to the semi-finals here, this year the final. I really enjoy this tournament and look forward to coming back next year."

In the Eastbourne men's doubles final, Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski defeated Colin Fleming and Ken Skupski 6-3, 5-7, 10-8 to defended their AEGON International crown and to end an eight-month title drought.

"I don't know why we have so much success on the grass here because usually we lose early at Wimbledon," said Fyrstenberg. "We like the grass here, it's bit faster and the ball bounces lower. This is such a relaxing tournament. It's great to be by the sea and it's always great weather. It's perfect preparation before Wimbledon."

"It was a lottery in the Match Tie-break," reflected Fyrstenberg. "We have quite a good record in final set Tie-breaks so we were still pumped up even though we lost the second set. It's good to have the first title of the season. It's so much better mentally to win the tournament than being a finalist. If we can continue this form, hopefully we can achieve something at Wimbledon."


Sergiy Stakhovsky defeated Janko Tipsarevic 6-3, 6-0 in 56 minutes to win the third ATP World Tour title of his career at the UNICEF Open.

"I played really well today," said Stakhovsky, who donated the racquet he used to UNICEF. "By the score, I believe this would be the easiest match of the week, but it definitely wasn’t as there was a lot of tension.

"I can't really say I had easy matches [this week]; more or less all of them were close in some way. I think I was a bit better and a little more consistent."

"I have played three finals in my career and before my previous semi-finals and finals I could not sleep," admitted Stakhovsky. "I seriously slept for only four hours each day. Today, I was nervous but I had slept okay. Sometimes I struggle with my emotions before matches. I know a big match is coming, but I am nervous."

Tipsarevic won just nine points in the 20-minute second-set.

"I'm very disappointed," said Tipsarevic. "But Sergiy played very well during the whole week. I somehow lost my spirit."

In the 's-Hertogenbosch men's doubles final Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau defeated Lukas Dlouhy and Leander Paes 1-6, 7-5, 10-7 to win their second ATP World Tour doubles title together

“First of all we want to thank the crowd who came to watch today, even though Holland was playing (against Japan at the FIFA World Cup),” said Tecau. “It's always nice to play in front of the fans. We had a great week here and even if the final didn't start well for us we kept fighting and it feels great to win here.”

Dlouhy and Paes were contesting their first tournament since finishing runners-up in the Roland Garros final (l. to Nestor-Zimonjic).

"I cannot explain this loss yet. I will need some time,” reflected Paes. “But it still was a beautiful week here; tournament director Marcel Hunze is doing a fantastic job."

Ekaterina Makarova defeated Victoria Azarenka 76(5) 64 to win Eastbourne - her first career Sony Ericsson WTA Tour title in three career finals.

"I cannot believe I won the title. I'm thinking I have to play one more match - I don't feel like the tournament is done," Makarova said. "I started well today with no mistakes, but then I got a little nervous, maybe thinking I could win. But then I just threw that from my mind and played every point and it worked."

Makarova is the first qualifier ever to win in Eastbourne, and the first to even reach the final since Vera Dushevina did so in 2005.

In the Eastbourne women's doubles final, Lisa Raymond and Rennae Stubbs defeated Kveta Peschke and Katarina Srebotnik 62 26 1311 to win their 33rd doubles title as a team - and first since winning this one exactly five years ago.

"Given the circumstances, that two weeks ago Rennae went down with a broken finger in our match at the French, and now here she is and we've won our first title of the year, it's amazing," Raymond said. "It's a tribute to her and her hard work and how much she wants it and it's a great way to lead into Wimbledon."

"I'm just stoked," Stubbs said. "It's been a while since I last won a title and there were moments today when I was a little nervous but Lisa kept me in it. Bottom line, it's just nice to feel that feeling again and to do it for my best friend. I didn't think I would even be playing Wimbledon. I didn't hit for two weeks.

"That's the beauty of playing on grass, serve and volley, it proves that the old way of playing doubles still works on the grass courts."

Justine Henin defetaed Andrea Petkovic 36 63 64 to win the UNICEF Open on the lawns of 's-Hertogenbosch.

"When I was down a break in the second, I don't think many people would have thought I could come back. It's the kind of match you really like to win," Henin said. "Today was harder than my other matches, because I really wanted to win, my mind was already in Wimbledon, and Andrea played a great match. She has a good game for grass - she hits the ball really flat and hard."

Petkovic, who was playing just her fourth career tournament on grass said: "I was nervous before this tournament because grass was not my favorite surface, but now I'm looking forward to my first match at Wimbledon. It was a good experience today. I learned I can compete with the best players. And I had my chances today - it was tough with the wind, because from one side we were always breaking and from one side we were always holding - so when I was up 3-0 in the third set I knew it wasn't going to be easy. Justine was too good."

In the 's-Hertogenbosch women's doubles final, which was played Saturday afternoon, Alla Kudryavtseva and Anastasia Rodionova won their first Tour title together with a 36 63 106 match tie-break win over Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova.

"A few weeks ago in the Strasbourg final Vania beat us, so it was nice to get this win against them," Rodionova said. "We worked very hard this week, with all of our matches going to a super tie-break. This gives us great confidence."


(photo/Reuters Pictures)

Weekend winners: Llodra, Stakhovsky, Makarova and Henin