Svetlana Kuznetsova Ends Title Drought

Svetlana Kuznetsova lifted her first title of 2010 as she saw off the challenge from Agnieszka Radwanska to win the San Diego Open.

Kuznetsova captured the French Open twelve months ago and rose to as high as world number two in 2009 but she has been unable to recapture that form and she has tumbled down the rankings.

After playing a very confidant opening set, which saw her take it 6-4, she suffered from nerves at the business end of the second as she let four match points slip by.

In the second breaker she squandered a 4-0 then a 6-3 as she failed to capitalise on four match points, serving double faults on two of them.

Radwanska, who was seeded fourth in the tournament, profited from Kuznetsova's inability to serve our the set as she took the break 7-9 to push the match into a third and deciding set.

Kuznetsova fell 2-1 behind at the beginning of that third set but battled back to regain control of the match. The Russian put together a series of winner to finally claim a 6-4 6-7 6-3 in two and a half hours.

Speaking to the WTA she said: "I had my advantages in the second set and it was very hard to forget them, but I started all over again. I had to be stronger. I believe I am, and I proved it.

"It was a big relief to win, because it had been such a long time since my last title, also because of losing the second set like that."

The win is Kuznetsova's first in ten months and the result sees her move back inside the top twenty to number fourteen.

And the Russian is back in action this week at the Open in  Cincinnati and she will face former world number one Maria Sharapova in the opening round.

FemaleFirst Helen Earnshaw