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Venus Williams defeats Misaki Doi to win the Taiwan Open

Venus Williams won her 49th career title with the win in the Taiwan Open on Sunday.

Venus Williams won her 49th career title with the win in the Taiwan Open on Sunday.

(William West / AFP / Getty Images)
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Top-seeded Venus Williams overpowered Misaki Doi of Japan, 6-4, 6-2, on Sunday to win the Taiwan Open in Kaohsiung without dropping a set in the tournament.

Williams saved six of nine break points in her first meeting against the second-seeded Doi.

The seven-time major winner, a surprise first-round loser at the Australian Open last month, earned her 49th career WTA title.

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“I’ve had so much success in Asia,” Williams said after the match, having won her last two titles in China. “I feel like it’s very lucky to play here.”

The former No. 1-ranked player won the final three games to take the first set and lost just two more games to win the final in just under 90 minutes.

“The last five days were so exciting, just to feel the enthusiasm and to play great tennis every day,” Williams said. “It was perfect week for me and the tournament did an amazing job with everything; the players and fans felt so welcome, so it was perfect.”

Doi was bidding for her second WTA career title following last year’s win in Luxembourg.

In doubles, hometown favorites Chan Yung-Jan and Chan Hao-Ching won their first title of 2016, defeating Japanese duo Eri Hozumi and Miyu Kato, 6-4, 6-3.

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Kei Nishikori of Japan won his fourth straight Memphis Open title Sunday, beating American teen Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-4.

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Nishikori joined Jimmy Connors as the only four-time winners of the event and became only the fourth active player to win an event four times, joining Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.

Ranked No. 7 in the world, Nishikori won his 11th career title and first since Washington last August. He picked up the $109,950 check with his 17th straight match win in Memphis. Nishikori hasn’t lost at The Racquet Club in the main draw since the first round in 2009.

Nishikori improved to 9-2 this year.

The 18-year-old Fritz already was the youngest American since Michael Chang won Wembley in 1989 at the age of 17 to reach an ATP Tour final and was trying to join Chang as a winner in just his third career ATP event.

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Dominic Thiem defeated Nicolas Almagro of Spain, 7-6 (2), 3-6, 7-6 (4), to win the Argentina Open on Sunday and claim his fourth ATP singles title.

The 22-year-old Austrian reached the final after beating former No. 1 Rafael Nadal in the semifinals. Nadal won this event a year ago and was once nearly unbeatable on clay.

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Thiem has won all of his titles on clay and is ranked No. 19 by the ATP.

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Martin Klizan rallied past fifth-seeded Gael Monfils, 6-7 (1), 6-3, 6-1, to win the indoor World Tennis Tournament at Rotterdam, Netherlands.

The 26-year-old Slovak, who saved eight match points on his way to the final, won six of the seven break points he faced against Monfils in their two-hour match. Monfils had 12 aces but was broken five times.

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Roberta Vinci snapped a losing streak in finals to beat top-seeded Belinda Bencic 6-4, 6-3 and take the inaugural St. Petersburg Ladies Trophy at St. Petersburg, Russia.

It is the 10th career win for No. 16-ranked Vinci in a WTA singles final and ends her 0-4 streak in finals dating back to 2013 — including last year’s U.S. Open, where she lost to fellow Italian Flavia Pennetta.

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