Chakvetadze beats Mirza to win Stanford classic

STANFORD, California, July 29 (Reuters) Top seed Anna Chakvetadze defeated India's Sania Mirza 6-3 6-2 to win her first Stanford classic title today.

Recording her 10th win in the United States in 2-1/2 weeks, the 20-year-old Russian was the far more consistent player, pushing Mirza around the court with razor-sharp groundstrokes.

''I didn't expect to win in two sets because I've been starting so slow and I told myself, 'I'm not feeling that great to go three sets so I have to finish it faster','' Chakvetadze told reporters.

''Her forehand is huge but when I made her run it's tough for her. I was more concentrated on every point.'' Both Mirza and Chakvetadze had also reached the doubles final with different partners and played in Cincinatti last week where Chakvetadze won the title.

The Russian was the livelier player on the day, moving to a career-high number six in the rankings.

''The first set I was there but after I lost the first set she dominated,'' Mirza said.

''Hats off to her because she comes up with her best in the finals. I wasn't feeling the ball today and getting a bit tentative and I wasn't the hitting the ball I as cleanly as I did in my other matches. I think we were both very tired.'' Chakvetadze, who said she had learned to control her emotions better on court, added she thought she could so well in the US Open.

''The US Open is my favorite grand slam, but I don't look so far in the future. A lot of things have to come together,'' she said.

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