Awesome Andy Murray sealed his third straight title and guaranteed that he will leapfrog Roger Federer to No. 3 in the world rankings after a hard-fought 7-5, 6-4 win over David Ferrer Sunday. Defending champion Murray, 24, was tested by the Spaniard but ultimately had too much for the world No. 5, wrapping up his eighth Masters title in one hour 45 minutes. The first game of the match at the Qi Zhong Stadium lasted nearly 10 minutes with a succession of lengthy baseline rallies before Murray broke to seize an early advantage — only for Ferrer to break back in the second game to level the scores. The rest of the first set went with serve until the Spaniard double-faulted in the 11th game to give second seed Murray another break and a 6-5 lead. Murray went on to seal the set with an ace. The second set followed the same pattern at the start, with Murray grabbing the early break only for Ferrer to pull level at 1-1 as the Scot smashed a ball into the ground in frustration. But a horrendous missed overhead from third seed Ferrer handed the British player two break points in the following game and he made no mistake, hoisting a lob from behind the baseline to win the game before going on to seal the match. In the doubles' final Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor beat Michael Llodra and Nenad Zimonjic 3-6, 6-1, 12-10 to win the title. Bartoli regains crown Marion Bartoli defeated US Open champion Samantha Stosur of Australia to win back the singles title she won in 2006 at the Japan Women's Open tennis tournament Sunday. The French second seed, who eliminated Angelique Kerber of Germany in the rain-delayed semifinals earlier in the day, went on to win the final with a 6-3, 6-1 victory in 74 minutes. Stosur had earlier beaten Zheng Jie of China 7-6 (7-5), 3-6, 6-3 in a morning semifinal, a match that lasted two hours and 36 minutes. Japan's Kimiko Date-Krumm gave local fans something to cheer about when she teamed up with China's Zhang Shuai to win the doubles title, beating American Vania King and Yaroslava Shvedova of Kazakhstan 7-5, 3-6, 11-9. Kvitova wins Linz Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova claimed her sixth career title Sunday with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Slovakian seventh seed Dominika Cibulkova in the Linz Open. The Czech Republic 21-year-old and number one seed had failed to win a tournament since her surprise victory on grass in London last July.
