Medina Garrigues clinches fifth Palermo title

PALERMO, Italy: Spain's Anabel Medina Garrigues clinched her fifth Palermo claycourt title on Sunday when she defeated Slovenia's Polona Hercog 6-3, 6-2 in the final.

Medina Garrigues, who also won in Sicily in 2001, 2004, 2005 and 2006, now has 10 career claycourt titles, one better than Venus Williams among active players.

Sunday's final was the 20-year-old Hercog's second in a week, having won the Bastad event in Sweden last Sunday.

"I think the environment of this tournament is the key," said the 28-year-old Spaniard.

"I always manage to play well here and I'm also really happy to win here for the fifth time - the other players who have done that on the WTA are really, really good players. Now I'm going to go and celebrate this victory and hopefully keep going."

Her level of domination of a single WTA event - five titles - has only been achieved by three other active players -- Venus Williams (Wimbledon), Serena Williams (Australian Open and Miami) and Kim Clijsters (Luxembourg).