Russian No. 2 seed Nadia Petrova halted the impressive run of unseeded Frenchwoman Nathalie Dechy on Sunday in Cincinnati, capturing the title at the Western & Southern Financial Group Women's Open with the 6-2, 6-1 victory.
Petrova broke Dechy three times in each set and dropped serve just once to close out the match in 70 minutes. She has now won her last three matches against Dechy, and improves her career record against the Frenchwoman to 6-2.
The 26-year-old Petrova collects her eighth career title, and her first since February 2007 at Paris (d. Safarova). She had lost her last three finals coming into Sunday's match, finishing as runner-up last year at Amelie Island (l. to Golovin) and Los Angeles (l. to Ivanovic) and in June at Eastbourne (l. to Radwanska). The Russian now improves to a 8-9 record in WTA finals.
Petrova then clinched the doubles title as she teamed up with fellow Russian Maria Kirilenko to defeat top seeds Su-Wei Hsieh and Yaroslava Shvedova 6-3, 4-6, 10-8. It was Petrova and Kirilenko's first title as a tandem. Petrova has now won 13 career doubles titles and Kirilenko five.
Dechy, 29, had posted three straight upsets over seeded players to reach the finals. She prevailed in a third-set tie-break against No. 4 seed Katarina Srebotnik in the second round, defeated No. 6 Aleksandra Wozniak in straight sets in the quarterfinals and ousted fifth-seeded compatriot Amelie Mauresmo in the semifinals.
She was attempting to win her second career WTA title in her first final appearance since 2004 at New Haven. Dechy won her sole WTA title in 2003 at Gold Coast.