Tennis: Mauresmo and Federer Victorious

Amélie Mauresmo, the top seed, took the Antwerp Diamond Games title yesterday by beating Venus Williams 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 in a final which stretched both players to the limit.

It took five match points for the Frenchwoman to end the American's challenge and inflict on Williams her first-ever defeat in this indoor event which she had captured on her two previous visits, in 2002 and 2003.

Mauresmo also denied the former Wimbledon champion the glittering prize, worth £700,000, of a racket encrusted with 1,700 dia monds on offer to anyone who wins the tournament three times in a five-year span.

Mauresmo's delight was plain to see. "The quality of my game went up and up during the whole week... this is the result of all the work I have done with my coach."

The final seemed to be heading Williams' way when the third seed took the opening set. But the remaining two sets, equally fiercely contested, saw her chance of an overdue title slip away. She has now gone 11 tournaments without that success, the longest barren sequence of her career.

"I was so close to winning and it is very frustrating," said the American. "I wanted to win that incredible racket so badly.

"Amelie played a tough game today and the question was how to be fresh after my two latest evening sessions [against Kim Clijsters and Anastasia Myskina].

"I felt 100% at the start of the match but my stomach muscles started to hurt again after a while, especially when serving."

In Rotterdam, Roger Federer triumphed in his 15th successive final when he overcame Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic by 5-7, 7-5, 7-6 to claim the World Indoor tournament.

The world No1 frequently struggles to find his best form against Ljubicic and yesterday the concession of the first set pointed to a familiar pattern. But Federer eventually wore down his opponent in a final lasting almost three hours.

The Swiss player, who had also beaten Ljubicic in last month's Doha final, has now won 31 of his last 32 matches, the sole defeat since last summer's Athens Olympics being to the eventual champion Marat Safin in their titanic Australian Open semi-final.

The Croatian still has a highly respectable record against Federer, having beaten him three times in their eight match-ups. Here, Ljubicic's distinction was to break the Swiss serve for the first time in the tournament- winning it to love - in the 11th game of the first set.

Ljubicic maintained his stern challenge until the end. The third set did not produce a single break point and Federer was delighted to close things out as he took the tie-break 7-5.

"I'm really happy to have finally won here," said Federer, who keenly remembered he had lost the 2001 Rotterdam crown on a third-set tiebreak.

For Ljubicic, Rotterdam completed an unhappy hat-trick this year. He also lost the Marseille final the previous Sunday.

In the Rotterdam semi-finals, Federer overcame another Croatian, Mario Ancic, and Ljubicic beat Sweden's Thomas Johansson, both wins coming in straight sets.