Tennis - Errani Clinches Home Success

Sara Errani became the first Italian to win four WTA titles in a year when she beat Barbora Zahlavova Strycova in the final of the Italiacom Open in Palermo.

The world number nine, who had already won tournaments at Acapulco, Barcelona and Budapest in 2012, was favourite in the tennis betting to lift the title and had little trouble dispatching the 26-year-old Czech player 6-1 6-3.

However Errani, who reached the French Open final earlier this year, insisted after her victory:  "It wasn't easy like the score looks - Barbara was playing very aggressively and it was tough for me.
"In some moments of the match I was a little bit nervous, and she was able to come back into the match at those times, but at the end of the match I played very well and was able to close it out."

Errani will now head to Bastad in Sweden where she will be taking part in the Sony Swedish Open.
As well as reaching the singles final in Palermo, Zahlavova Strycova also won the doubles title with Renata Voracova.

Zahlavova Strycova also ended Laura Robson’s hopes of reaching her first ATP final by beating the British teenager 2-6 7-5 6-2.

By reaching the semi-final, Robson became only the second British woman since 1992 to reach the last-four of a WTA event, Anne Keothavong being the other.

Robson has moved up 22 places in the latest rankings and is now 91 in the world. She has leapfrogged Elena Baltacha and is now the British number three - behind Heather Watson and Keothavong, with her US Open Tennis odds also receiving a significant boost as a result.
The last British woman to reach a WTA final was Jo Durie 22 years ago.