Troicki trumps Kukushkin in Sydney

SYDNEY: Viktor Troicki won the battle of the qualifiers to claim his second career title with a straight sets win over Mikhail Kukushkin in the final of the Sydney International on Saturday.
Troicki crushed Kukushkin 6-2, 6-3 in a victory that will send the Serb moving up the world rankings.
The one-time world No.12, who won his first title in Moscow five years ago, spiralled to 847th before his return from suspension last July, but is expected to be back in the top 70 on Monday from his current 92.
Troicki, 28, was forced to serve a 12-month ban for failing to take a blood test at the Monte Carlo Masters in 2013 and is eager to make up for lost time.
In the first ATP final in history featuring two qualifiers, Troicki dispatched Kukushkin in 64 minutes after breaking the Kazakh twice in each set.
Troicki, who lost to Frenchman Gilles Simon in the Sydney final four years ago, started and finished the match with an ace, serving a dozen in total.

Vesely supreme

In Auckland, unheralded Jiri Vesely, the 63rd ranked player in the world, won his maiden ATP title Saturday when he beat Frenchman Adrian Mannarino 6-3, 6-2 in the final of the Auckland Open.
The 21-year-old Czech has proved a giant killer since winning through the qualifying rounds to make the tournament proper and then advancing to an ATP final for the first time.
Along the way he knocked out top seed and world number 13 Ernests Gulbis as well as tournament fourth seed Kevin Anderson.
Against Mannarino, Vesely quickly recovered from dropping the opening serve of the match to break the 44th ranked player twice in each set.
With a power game that proved too much for the 26-year-old Frenchman, Vesely raced through each set in little more than half an hour.
After breaking Mannarino to level at 2-2 in the first set he broke again at 4-3, when the Frenchman double-faulted on game point, before serving out the set with an ace.
In the second set he broke Mannarino’s serve twice in succession to race to a 5-1 lead and coasted home from there, taking match point with his 11th ace.
Vesely’s path through the tournament was made easier by the withdrawal ahead of the Australian Open by a string of high-profile players, including David Ferrer, Gael Monfils and Tommy Robredo.