Kucera dethrones Henman

The victory marked a successful return from injury for Kucera, who was sidelined for two months because of a wrist injury.

Henman, who has made three first-round exits in his last seven tournaments, had defeated French Open finalist Andrei Medvedev and three-time Wimbledon finalist Goran Ivanisevic en route to the final.

Title for Magnus

SHANGHAI: Magnus Norman didn’t mind the wait as he came back today following yesterday’s rain interruption to beat Marcelo Rios in the final of the $350,000 Heineken Open, taking over the mantle as top titleholder for 1999.

The second-seeded Swede, who will break through into the top-20 after his performance in the hardcourts, claimed a tour leading fifth title with his 2-6 6-3 7-5. Norman, ranked 23rd, moved ahead of Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras, each with four titles so far this season.

Another Porsche for Hingis

FILDERSTADT: Martina Hingis captured her seventh title of the year and added another Porsche to her car collection when she beat Mary Pierce 6-4, 6-1 in the final of the $40,000 Porsche Grand Prix on Sunday.

The first prize at the event is a Porsche sports car and Hingis, needed 65 minutes to earn this year’s award, a convertible.

Pierce and Hingis have been practising together for a week but it didn’t help the fourth-seeded Pierce. Pierce is still without a title this year.

Paes-Bhupathi top seeds

SINGAPORE: Marcelo Rios has been given top billing in the $725,000 Singapore Open beginning at the indoor stadium here today.

The seedings (singles): 1 Marcelo Rios (Chi), 2 Mark Philippoussis (Aus), 3 Magnus Norman (Swe), 4 Lleyton Hewitt (Aus), 5 Sjeng Schalken (Ned), 6 Andrew Ilie (US), 7 Jan-Michael Gambill (US), 8 Jonas Bjorkman (Swe)

Doubles: 1 Leander Paes & Mahesh Bhupathi (Ind), 2 Todd Woodbridge & Mark Woodforde (Aus), 3 Sebastien Lareau & Daniel Nestor (Can), 4 Nicklas Kulti and Mikael Tillstrom (Swe)

Agassi, Kafelnikov confirm entry

MELBOURNE: Andre Agassi and Yevgeny Kafelnikov, the world’s top two-ranked players, have been confirmed as starters for the Kooyong exhibition the week before the Australian Open in January.

Wimbledon champion Pete Sampras, who did not play at the Open this year citing exhaustion, has not yet committed to the eight-man tournament, organisers said. They will keep a place open should Sampras decide to make the trip to next year’s opening Grand Slam.