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| Sunday, October 7 Kafelnikov, Dokic capture titles Associated Press |
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MOSCOW -- Yevgeny Kafelnikov won his fifth consecutive Kremlin Cup, beating Nicolas Kiefer of Germany 6-4, 7-5 on Sunday before a crowd that included former Russian president Boris Yeltsin. Fifth-seeded Jelena Dokic of Yugoslavia defeated eighth-seeded Elena Dementieva of Russia 6-3, 6-3 to win the women's title in the $2.2 million event. Dokic, ranked No. 11, will enter the top 10 for the first time. This was the 24th career title for Kafelnikov. After the match, the top-seeded Russian said he will donate his prize money of $119,842 to the families of 78 people killed in Thursday's plane crash near his native city of Sochi. "It cannot compensate for the lives of those who died, but I make this compensation from the bottom of my heart," he said. Kafelnikov became only the third player in the Open era to win the same tournament five times in a row. Bjorn Borg won Wimbledon in 1976-80 and Balazs Taroczy captured Hilversum titles in 1978-82. Kiefer broke serve in the first set for a 3-1 lead. Kafelnikov evened it 4-4 when Kiefer's leaping volley went wide. The decisive break in the 10th game gave the Russian the set. Both held serve in the second set until Kiefer, 30-30 on his serve in the 12th game, netted a return to give the Russian a chance to break. Kafelnikov sealed the match with a forehand down the line, delighting the sellout crowd of 14,500 at Olympic Indoor Stadium. Dokic won the third title of her career, all this season. Her other titles came at the Italian Open in May and the Toyota Princess Cup two weeks ago. "This year has been very good to me," she said. "I didn't really expect it to go as well as it did." Dokic was in command the whole way. She jumped to a 3-0 lead in the first set and a 5-1 lead in the second. "I proved to myself that I can play well and that I can win tournaments and that gives me a lot of confidence," said Dokic, who earned $175,000. Dementieva, the silver medalist at the Sydney Olympics, upset top-seeded Martina Hingis in the quarterfinals. She has yet to win her first title. Martina Hingis and Anna Kournikova teamed to win the doubles title, beating Elena Dementieva and Lina Krasnoroutskaya 7-6 (1), 6-3. The men's title went to Max Mirnyi and Sandon Stolle, with a 6-3, 6-0 win over Bhupathi Mahesh and Jeff Tarango.
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