Kafelnikov does it again

Issue Number: 
292
Published: 
2001-10-12


Russia's Yevgeny Kafelnikov lived up to his top seeding and brought cheer to the home crowd by defeating Nicolas Kiefer of Germany 6-4, 7-5 in the championship match, giving him his fifth consecutive Kremlin Cup title.

His victory came before a packed house that included former Russian President Boris Yeltsin.

But it wasn't a double victory for Russia on the final day, as No. 5 Jelena Dokic, an 18-year-old Yugoslav, beat eighth-seeded Yelena Dementieva of Russia, 6-3, 6-3, to win the women's title in the $2.185 million event.

It was the 24th career title for the 27-year-old Kafelnikov, who announced after the match that he was donating his $119,842 in prize money to the families of 78 people killed in a plane crash near his native city of Sochi on Oct. 4.

Dokic won her first title in May, upsetting fourth-seeded Amelie Mauresmo of France in the final of the Italian Open to reach the WTA's top 20 for the first time. She overpowered Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario in the final of the Toyota Princess Cup two weeks ago for her second title.

She took home $175,000 in prize money. "I proved to myself that I can play well and that I can win tournaments and that gives me a lot of confidence," said Dokic.

In women's doubles action, Martina Hingis of Switzerland and Russia's Anna Kournikova defeated Dementieva and Lina Krasnoroutskaya, also of Russia, 7-6, 6-3.

In men's doubles, Max Mirnyi of Belarus and Australian Sandon Stolle topped Bhupathi Mahesh of India and Jeff Tarango of the United States, 6-3, 6-0.

Search