Schuettler wins Japan Open

Top seed Rainer Schuettler of Germany broke a two-year drought when he captured the Japan Open with a 7-6 (7-5) 6-2 victory over Frenchman Sebastien Grosjean of France in today's final.

And 16-year-old Maria Sharapova became the youngest player this season to win a WTA Tour title by outlasting Aniko Kapros of Hungary, 2-6 6-2 7-6 (7-5) to capture the women’s event.

Schuettler won his first title since the 2001 Shanghai tournament although he reached the Australian Open final this year only to be well beaten in three sets by Andre Agassi.

Here, the German did not drop a set in winning his five matches.

The second-seeded Grosjean was making his second appearance in a final – he lost to Andy Roddick on grass in the Stella Artois championships in June.

On this occasion, the Frenchman lost for the first time in three matchups against Schuettler.

The defeat spoiled Grosjean’s best hard court showing of the year. He entered this event on a three-match losing streak and had not played since a first-round upset by Ramon Delgado in the US Open.

Sharapova fell behind in the third-set tiebreaker, 5-2, before storming back to win the final five points of the two-hour, 10-minute match.

The Russian is just 16 years, five months and 16 days old.

“I now have two titles (singles and doubles) under my belt and it feels great,” the fifth-seeded Sharapova said.

“I think with these things, it is a matter of time. If you put in the hard work – and I have worked so hard – I think this week really showed and it paid off.”

Sharapova also teamed up with Tamarine Tansugarn to win the women’s doubles.