France's Caroline Garcia recovered from a set down to beat Croatian Donna Vekic 2-6, 7-6(7-4), 7-6(7-4) and win her first title of the season at the Nottingham Open grasscourt event on Sunday. Top seed Garcia, the world No.28, who had finished off her semifinal win over Jennifer Brady just hours before on Sunday, lost her opening two service games in a slow start to concede the opening set. The 25-year-old then rediscovered her touch in the second set, before stepping up her game in the final set tiebreak to earn three championship points at 6-3. Second seed Vekic fired a stunning forehand to trim the deficit to 6-4, but Garcia responded with an ace to clinch victory after two hours and 36 minutes. The final brought to a conclusion the rain-hit pre-Wimbledon tournament in Nottingham, with some earlier matches having had to be played indoors. Vekic, for example, overcame Kristina Mladenovic in a quarterfinal clash which started on the grass outdoors before being moved to the indoor hardcourts, where most play occurred during the earlier rounds. Djokovic tops ATP rankings from Nadal, Federer Novak Djokovic leads the men's ATP Tennis rankings released Monday ahead of French Open champion Rafael Nadal and former world No. 1 Roger Federer. The top of the rankings remains unchanged a week after Nadal claimed the Roland Garros title with victory over Dominic Thiem in the final. Federer lost to Nadal in the semis in his first appearance in Paris since 2015 and will be playing on grass in Halle in Germany on Tuesday as the focus switches to the Wimbledon build-up. Osaka remains top as Wimbledon approaches Naomi Osaka retained top place in the WTA rankings on Monday in an unchanged top 20 with two weeks to go to Wimbledon. Osaka and French Open winner Ashleigh Barty are playing on grass in Birmingham this week in preparation for Wimbledon. American Alison Riske moves up 12 places to 49th following her win over Kiki Bertens in the final of the s'Hertogenbosch tournament in the Netherlands on Sunday. Perth to host Fed Cup final Perth was Monday named as host city for the Fed Cup final between Australia and France later this year — the first to be held Down Under for four decades. The women's team showdown on Nov. 9-10 will be played on hardcourts at the west coast city's RAC Arena, Tennis Australia announced. Recently crowned French Open champion Ashleigh Barty is expected to lead seven-time champions Australia in their first home Fed Cup final since 1978. They last won the title in 1974. "It's particularly exciting to be making this announcement just a little over a week since Ash Barty won the French Open," Australian Fed Cup captain Alicia Molik said in a statement. "Women's Tennis is in an extremely powerful position in Australia at the minute and I'm so proud of every team member who has been a part of this two-year journey to reach the final." Australia reached their first final in 26 years by seeing off Belarus in April, while France edged past Romania in the other semifinal. — Agencies
