BEIJING -- No smashed racket this time, but Andy Roddick did show fans his volatile temper in beating Dudi Sela 6-4, 6-7 (6), 6-3 on Sunday to win the China Open.
After winning the first set and leading the second with an early break, Roddick served a double fault and then botched a shot at the net. That allowed Sela to break back, and Roddick lost his cool.
With a powerful underhand swoosh, the American sent a tennis ball high over the crowd and out of the two-tiered Beijing Tennis Center.
"I didn't break anything," Roddick joked later, alluding to a quarterfinal victory against Juan Carlos Ferrero on Friday, when he shattered the head of his racket in a fit of anger.
In the women's final, top-seeded Jelena Jankovic defeated No. 4 Svetlana Kuznetsova 6-3, 6-2. It was the Serb's second title this season and the seventh of her career. It also made up for losing in the 2007 final to Hungary's Agnes Szavay.
It was Kuznetsova's fifth final this season -- and her fifth loss.
The victory left Jankovic only 21 points behind No. 1 Serena Williams in the WTA rankings. They are both scheduled to play in Stuttgart, Germany, in the next WTA event. Six other top-10 players are also in the field.
Roddick dug deep to defeat Sela, a player ranked only 92nd by the ATP -- but a clever one who managed to keep many of Roddick's blistering serves in play and then frustrated him with repeated lobs and passing shots from the backhand and forehand.
Roddick failed to close out the match in the second-set tiebreaker. With Roddick serving and leading 6-4, Sela won four consecutive points to win the tiebreaker. Sela raced to his chair, sat down quickly and clenched his right fist.
"In the back of my mind, I knew I'd played in 38-40 finals and I knew this was his first one," Roddick said. "I knew that had to count for something. I wanted to stay in there and compete, even though he was the hot player for the majority of the day."
Roddick won twice earlier this year, taking a tournament in February in San Jose, California, and in March in Dubai. It was his 40th final, and his 26th career ATP title.
Sela is the first Israeli to reach an ATP final since Harel Levy in 2000, although he failed to become the first Israeli winner since Amos Mansdorf in 1993.
Sela managed to relax after a nervous first set, returning better and making Roddick work.
