Muster Sustains Dominance

Thomas Muster mastered the swirling winds, the slippery court and Richard Krajicek’s serve-and-volley game to win the Italian Open in Rome, for his fifth clay court title of the year.

Muster used his punishing baseline game to beat the unseeded Dutchman 6-2, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

The victory gave Muster his 38th career clay court title and extended his record on the surface over the past two years to 95-3.

In Berlin, Steffi Graf won her ninth German Open, but was forced to battle over three tough sets before ending the upset run of Slovakia’s Karina Habsudova.

Graf, top-seeded, let a match point slip away before completing a 4-6, 6-2, 7-5 victory over Habsudova, who had beaten three top-20 players to reach the final.