Verdasco, Wozniacki clinch warm-up titles

Verdasco beat sixth-seeded American Sam Querrey 6-4, 7-6 (8-6) on Saturday to capture his first title of 2009. Verdasco fended off three set points in the tiebreaker to win his third career crown, and the first since Umag in 2008.

Querrey battled back from an early break in the second set to force the tie-breaker, and led 6-3 before Verdasco won the next five points to clinch the deal. Both finalists played twice on Saturday, after the semifinals were postponed by rain. In the first semifinal, Querrey beat Argentina’s Jose Acasuso 6-3, 6-4, while Verdasco edged seventh-seeded Russian Igor Andreev 7-6 (7-4), 7-6 (7-5).

The women’s semis had been played indoors on Friday, but the weather cleared enough for the championship matches to be held on the stadium court at the Connecticut Tennis Center. Denmark’s Caroline Wozniacki won her second straight New Haven WTA title, downing Russian Elena Vesnina 6-2, 6-4.

Wozniacki, the second seed, claimed her sixth WTA title and third this year. The 19-year-old broke unseeded Vesnina in the first game and went on to win in an hour and 16 minutes. “It has really surprised me how fast everything has been going and that I’m right now eight or nine in the world,”Wozniacki said.