Tennis: Stark stuns Chang to end three-year wait

Tennis

Jonathan Stark, an American qualifier, served and volleyed superbly yesterday to beat the world No 2, Michael Chang, 6-4 6-4 in the final of the Singapore Open.

Stark, better known as a doubles player, broke Chang once in each set to register only his second tour title. His previous singles win came in the Bolzano Open three years ago. "It's been a long time," Stark said.

Stark, trailing 15-30 in the 10th game of the first set, fired three consecutive aces to win the first set. He also finished the match with three aces in the final game of the final set.

"There are days when guys play too good. It was just his day," said Chang, who had beaten Britain's Greg Rusedski 7-6, 6-3 in the a semi-final on Saturday.

Yevgeny Kafelnikov, the French Open champion, won his fourth title of the year when he beat the Frenchman Arnaud Boetsch 7-5 6-3 in the Lyon grand prix final. The Russian second seed, who beat Tim Henman 6-1, 6-3 in the semi-finals, was always in command after coming back from 5-3 down in the first set when his service was broken in the third game.

Germany's Anke Huber came from a set and 3-0 down to retain her title at the Leipzig women's tournament with a 5-7, 6-3, 6-1 victory over Iva Majoli.

The Croatian third seed looked to have the match sewn up until she appeared to struggle with her movement. Tears rolled down Majoli's cheeks at one point as she failed to reach passing shots, but it was not clear if she was injured or was simply exhausted.