Justine Henin-Hardenne of Belgium has overpowered Russian Lina Krasnoroutskaya in Toronto, Canada to win her sixth Women's Tennis Association title of the season.
The second-seeded Belgian rolled to a 6-1, 6-love triumph Sunday to improve to a 6-1 record in championship matches this season. Her win ties her with world number one Kim Clijsters, also of Belgium, with the most wins on the tour this year.
Henin-Hardenne captured her first career Grand Slam crown at the French Open and also picked up titles at Dubai, Charleston, Berlin and San Diego.
The 21-year-old now boasts two tournaments during the summer hardcourt season heading into the U.S. Open, which begins August 25. Henin-Hardenne has not lost since falling in the semi-finals of Wimbledon to American Serena Williams in the first week of July.
Andy Roddick is leaving little doubt he is one of the favorites heading into the U.S. Open, the final Grand Slam event of the tennis season.
Roddick rallied Sunday after losing the first set to beat fellow American Mardy Fish, 4-6, 7-6, 7-6, to win the Cincinnati Masters in Mason, Ohio. The seventh-seeded Andy Roddick had not lost a set all week. After dropping the first set against Fish, Roddick survived two tiebreakers to win the event. It was the longest final in terms of games in a Cincinnati-based pro tennis event since 1960. Fish was the first unseeded player to make the final in Cincinnati in 22 years.
On the U.S. hard courts this summer, Roddick is 20-1. He has never won a Grand Slam event, but will have another chance when the U.S. Open begins on August 25 in New York, five days before his 21st birthday.