Svetlana Kuznetsova back as a winning force with San Diego title

HEAD racquet rebel Svetlana Kuznetsova won her first title in ten months as the Russian beat Pole Agnieszka Radwanska 6-4, 6-7, 6-3 at the San Diego WTA event to mark a positive turnaround in her game. "Kuzy" was untouchable with her YouTek Extreme MP as she showed that a drop to a 21st ranking had not hurt her confidence.

Kuznetsova credited hard post-Wimbledon work with two hitting partners, a coach and a physio at the Russian 2014 Olympic venue of Sochi for putting her right. The French and US Open champion took her first trophy since Beijing in early October, winning her seventh match out of ten against Radwanska.

"Winning a trophy is one step forward," said Kuznetsova. "I've been playing, playing, playing, trying to get my game together.”

HEAD had success on two Tours and two continents in doubles. In Washington, HEAD's Mark Knowles (YouTek Prestige MP) and partner Mardy Fish lifted their second title in as many seasons through a defeat of Czechs Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek 4-6, 7-6, 10-7. In the singles competition, Croatian Marin Cilic claimed a spot in the semi finals.

There was a women's WTA doubles trophy in Copenhagen for German Anna-Lena Groenefeld, who teamed with Julia Goerges for a defeat of Russian Vitalia Diatchenko and Tatiana Poutchek of Belarus 6-4, 6-4. Geoenefeld (YouTek Speed MP) now owns 11 doubles titles dating to 2005. "We're both really happy to win this week," said the 25-year-old. "We'll be playing the US Open together. We will try to commit for the whole next year and see how it goes." The newly-formed pair was playing in only their second event after getting together at Badgastein, Austria, last month.

In this weeks ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event at Toronto, world’s No 1 and No 2 will team in a high-profile doubles partnership: Rafael Nadal and HEAD racquet rebel Novak Djokovic are entering a doubles tournament for the first time. “Novak is one of the most talented players in the world. To have him in my half of the court will be a nice experience”, said Nadal.