MUNICH (AP)—Philipp Kohlschreiber of Germany beat Marin Cilic of Croatia 7-6 (8), 6-3 Sunday to win the BMW Open for the second time.
 
Kohlschreiber, seeded fourth, also won this clay-court tournament in 2007. He saved seven of eight break points to capture his fourth title in his sixth ATP final. His previous title also came in Germany – last year’s Gerry Weber Open in Halle.
 
”I improved from match to match, felt very well for the whole week and played good tennis,” he said.
 
Kohlschreiber won more than $94,000 in prize money and a white convertible worth more than $73,000.
 
”I don’t really know what I should say,” he said. ”I don’t have as much experience of this as (Roger) Federer.”
 
The third-seeded Cilic, who lost this final in 2010 to Mikhail Youzhny, won nearly $50,000.

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP)—Andreas Seppi of Italy defeated Benoit Paire of France 6-3, 6-2 Sunday to win the Serbia Open for the second title of his career.
 
Paire was playing his first ATP final after upsetting top-seeded Pablo Andujar of Spain in Saturday’s semifinals. Seppi, seeded second, won his first tournament last June in Eastbourne.
 
”It was a fantastic week for me,” said Seppi, who lost in the semifinals in Belgrade in 2009 against top-ranked Novak Djokovic. ”I managed to win this time.”
 
Paire got off to a good start with an early break, but he was soon undone by unforced errors and double-faults. Seppi broke immediately in the second set and then again to close the match, but only after Paire saved five match points.
 
Paire also eliminated sixth-seeded Fabio Fognini and third-seeded Jarkko Nieminen. He thanked the fans, promising to ”see you next year.”
 
The Serbia Open is organized by the Djokovic family. Djokovic won the title last year, but pulled out this year because of the death of his grandfather.

Maria Sharapova weighs in on the blue courts in Madrid, as well as her current goals.

“We’ve played on red clay for so many years,” she told reporters. “I find [the blue clay] different and some parts of court have more clay than others. They are trying to work the kinks out.  There are so many things we players have to adjust to, and there are not a lot of things that are consistent. I’d like to see more consistency. I think [the blue clay] is a little more for spectators, TV and more for buzz than anything else. I think it’s more for show than for the players.”

The world No. 2 also told Medio Tiempo that world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka has become her biggest rival (Sharapova upended the Belarussian in last week’s Stuttgart final after losing to her in the Australian and Miami finals) and discussed both winning her fourth major and returning to the top of the rankings.

“Fortunately I had the opportunity to see how it feels before in those two situations,” she said. “I would be very happy if I won more Grand Slams and became No. 1 again and now that I’m close to having that possibility, it’s one of my goals this year, but mostly it’s to play like a true No. 1.”

Former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki tells reporters in Madrid that the game keeps evolving, for better or worse. “Everything changing all the time, like with cars,” the now sixth-ranked Dane said. “You see new models and some of the newer ones are better than the older ones just a little, but sometimes it’s a big change and a big step forward. With the [tennis] equipment as well, I don’t know where it will be in 10 years, but maybe you will push a button and racket will play itself.”

MADRID (AP)—Venus Williams held off a late surge by Simona Halep to win 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (6) in the first round of the Madrid Open on Saturday.

The seven-time major winner hit three aces and broke the Romanian twice en route to taking the first set.

But Halep rallied to take the second set before Williams finally edged her out in the tiebreaker.

”On the last match point I went for it. I wanted to leave it all out there on the court,” said Williams, playing just her third tournament following a seven-month absence due to illness.

”A match like that can be good. We hit a lot of balls and I was able to get that clay-court mentality right away. I have to keep remembering I’m on clay.”

Earlier, fifth-seeded Sam Stosur also needed three sets to beat Petra Martic.

Stosur saved six break points to take the tight match from the Croatian 7-5, 4-6, 7-6 (5).

”Petra was playing really well, and it really went down to the wire today,” Stosur said. ”I thought my level got better and better as the match went on, and the last half of the third set was the best tennis we played.”

Stosur will next face American Christina McHale, who converted five of 14 break points to beat Sweden’s Sofia Arvidsson 6-4, 7-5.

”She’s an up-and-coming young player who hits the ball well and is a great athlete,” Stosur said. ”I will have to be prepared and be on my game.”

Also, eighth-seeded Li Na of China hit seven aces to ease by Gabrine Muguruza Blanco of Spain 6-2, 6-4.

Sorana Cirstea of Romania came from behind to upset seventh-seeded Marion Bartoli 6-7 (6), 6-4, 6-3, while Petra Cetkovska of the Czech Republic brushed by 10th-seeded Vera Zvonareva 6-2, 6-2.

Other winners included Mona Barthel of Germany, Klara Zakopalova of the Czech Republic and local favorite Silvia Soler-Espinosa.

Maria Sharapova weighs in on the blue courts in Madrid, as well as her current goals.

“We’ve played on red clay for so many years,” she told reporters. “I find [the blue clay] different and some parts of court have more clay than others. They are trying to work the kinks out.  There are so many things we players have to adjust to, and there are not a lot of things that are consistent. I’d like to see more consistency. I think [the blue clay] is a little more for spectators, TV and more for buzz than anything else. I think it’s more for show than for the players.”

The world No. 2 also told Medio Tiempo that world No. 1 Victoria Azarenka has become her biggest rival (Sharapova upended the Belarussian in last week’s Stuttgart final after losing to her in the Australian and Miami finals) and discussed both winning her fourth major and returning to the top of the rankings.

“Fortunately I had the opportunity to see how it feels before in those two situations,” she said. “I would be very happy if I won more Grand Slams and became No. 1 again and now that I’m close to having that possibility, it’s one of my goals this year, but mostly it’s to play like a true No. 1.”

OEIRAS, Portugal (AP)—Kaia Kanepi of Estonia won the Estoril Open on Saturday, saving two match points to beat Carla Suarez Navarro of Spain 3-6, 7-6 (6), 6-4.
 
Among the men, defending champion Juan del Potro of Argentina and Richard Gasquet of France won semifinals and will play for the title Sunday in this clay-court tuneup for the French Open. This is Gasquet’s first final since July 2010.
 
Kanepi, seeded sixth, survived the match points in the second-set tiebreaker. She then rebounded from a 3-1 deficit to capture her second title of the season and third of her career. Suarez Navarro is 0-3 in finals.
 
”I’ve won a few matches from match points down but I’ve never won a final like this,” Kanepi said. ”I’ll remember this final in a good way for a long time.”
 
The top-seeded Del Potro didn’t surrender a break-point chance in beating third-seeded Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland 7-6 (2), 6-4. Gasquet, seeded second, rallied past Albert Ramos of Spain 2-6, 7-6 (1), 7-5.
 
Gasquet looked finished when he slammed his racket into the ground after losing a point at the start of the second set. But Ramos dropped his next service game with three straight errors.
 
Gasquet didn’t waste the chance and drew even at one set each before finishing off the fourth-seeded Ramos in just over three hours when his return sailed wide.

MUNICH (AP)—Third-seeded Marin Cilic beat German veteran Tommy Haas in straight sets on Saturday to reach the final of the BMW Open, where he will face 2007 winner Philipp Kohlschreiber.

Cilic, the 2010 finalist, dropped just five points from his own serve as the 23-year-old Croat defeated Haas 6-3, 6-4.

The 34-year-old Haas was once ranked as high as No. 2 but has dropped to No. 134 because of injuries. He was playing in his first ATP semifinal since August 2009 after receiving a wild card into the clay-court tournament.

The fourth-seeded Kohlschreiber defeated second-seeded Feliciano Lopez of Spain 6-2, 6-7 (4), 6-4.

The 28-year-old German is hoping to lift his first trophy on Sunday since winning the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany last year.

The Munich tournament is one of the warm-up events for the French Open.

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP)—Top-seeded Sara Errani of Italy won her third WTA title this year by defeating Elena Vesnina of Russia 7-5, 6-4 Saturday in the Budapest Grand Prix final.

Unseeded Vesnina opened the match with a service break and led 4-1. However, Errani began to apply heavy forehands with spin that earned her four games in a row to take the first set.

In the second, Errani was 5-2 up before Vesnina regained her focus and charged back to within one point of evening the score. Instead, Errani earned her fifth career title on the WTA tour.

Former world No. 1 Caroline Wozniacki tells reporters in Madrid that the game keeps evolving, for better or worse. “Everything changing all the time, like with cars,” the now sixth-ranked Dane said. “You see new models and some of the newer ones are better than the older ones just a little, but sometimes it’s a big change and a big step forward. With the [tennis] equipment as well, I don’t know where it will be in 10 years, but maybe you will push a button and racket will play itself.”