Mardy Fish defeated Olivier Rochus 5-7, 6-3, 6-4 in two hours and four minutes to win the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in Newport, Rhode Island, his fourth ATP World Tour trophy.

It was his first grass-court title after three runner-up finishes on the surface.

“It means a lot to win now on every surface in my career – indoor, outdoor, hard, clay and grass,” said Fish. “I’ve certainly lost a lot of heartbreak finals, and it feels good to win one.”

Fish has lost 30 pounds in the last 10 months because of a strict diet and training regime with trainer Christian LoCascio.


“I served great, and I needed to for sure. I served great when I needed to in that last game… If I didn’t come up with those [aces] he probably was going to break me eventually.”

World No. 65 Rochus, who did not drop a set en route to his eighth ATP World Tour final said:

“I was feeling really good on the court. It was just one or two points. The last two games were so close. I had two break points [at 4-5], game points at 4-all. It’s just like this. When it’s that tight, one has to win. But Mardy was pushing hard at the end and his serve was really good, so maybe he deserved it a little more.”

In the doubles final, Carsten Ball and Chris Guccione beat No. 4 seeds Santiago Gonzalez and Travis Rettenmaier 6-3, 6-4 to win their first title together.

“It feels great,” said Guccione. “Carsten and I have had some really good results before, some Grand Slams, making a couple of third rounds and quarter-finals of the [US] Open last year. We’ve won a couple of Challengers. This is our biggest result in a Tour event, so it feels good to get the win first time in. Hopefully we can keep on going up.”

“We’ve played some big matches before; that definitely helped us today,” said Ball. “It’s still the final, so it’s still a lot on the line, but we were just trying to take care of business.”

“It’s our first final, our first win together,” said Ball. “We were feeling pretty confident coming from Wimbledon, making third round, and we played well, better as the week went on, so we’re pretty happy.”

Agnes Szavay defeated Patty Schnyder 6-2, 6-4 and successfully defended her GDF Suez Grand Prix title on home soil in Budapest. This was her fourth WTA title and third on clay.

"It was a tough match, especially because of the weather - it was really hot. We also both had long matches yesterday, so we were both pretty tired. But we tried to do our best," Szavay said. "I think mentally it was better for me today. We played in the final last year and I won in a tight match, and I think she was thinking about it. She seemed a little nervous at the beginning."

"It's unbelievable to win in Hungary again," Szavay added. "The crowd was great, just like last year. To win two times at home, I can't describe this feeling."

In the doubles final, Timea Bacsinszky and Tathiana Garbin beat No.1 seeds Sorana Cirstea and Anabel Medina Garrigues 63 63 for Budapest title. Bacsinszky won her first Tour doubles title; Garbin won her ninth.


(source: ATP World Tour, Sony Ericsson WTA Tour)

Weekend Winners: Mardy Fish and Agnes Szavay