Sanchez-Vicario wins Porto Open
April 8, 2001

PORTO, Portugal -- After going through two three-set matches to reach Sunday's final, top seed Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario had an easy time in capturing the Porto Ladies Open title for a $22,000 payday. The 29-year-old Sanchez-Vicario rolled to a 6-3, 6-1 victory over third seed and fel-low Spaniard Magui Serna for her first Sanex WTA Tour title in two years and 28th of career. This was her first championship since Cairo in 1999, although she was a finalist on clay-court tournaments at Hilton Head and Hamburg, Germany last year. In the quarterfinals Friday, Sanchez-Vicario lost the first set, 2-6, to Petra Mandula of Hungary, before taking the second 6-3, ahead of play being halted due to rain. The match was resumed Saturday when Sanchez-Vicario quickly ended the affair, 6-1. She then proceeded to the semifinals against fourth seed Silvia Farina Elia of Italy, who also played twice, where she had a virtual carbon copy performance, 4-6, 6-0, 6-1. Sanchez-Vicario, a three-time French Open champion, took some time off at the start of this year, but returned to action in good form at the Ericsson Open in Miami where she reached the fourth round.