Hometown favorite Sjeng Schalken beat France's Arnaud Clement 6-3, 6-4 yesterday to successfully defend his Ordina Open title at Rosmalen, the Netherlands.

　　Schalken, seeded third in the last grass court warmup to Wimbledon, was consistently better from the baseline and defeated the seventh-seeded Frenchman with ease in a rematch of last year's final, earning his first tournament victory of the season.

　　"I didn't miss much, as you all saw, and that's why I won," Schalken told the ecstatic Dutch crowd afterward. "If I'm not ready for Wimbledon now, I never will be."

　　Clement looked off his stride in the first set, making three unforced errors and double-faulting at 5-3 to give Schalken his second break of serve and end the set.

　　But he recovered after being broken again in the fourth game of the second set, taking Schalken to 0-40 with a crisp crosscourt return, and then completing the break with his most effective weapon, a nasty drop shot.

　　Schalken broke Clement's serve again at 5-4 to end the match when one of Clement's returns missed wide.

　　On Saturday, top seed Kim Clijsters won the women's title when Justine Henin-Hardenne quit after hurting her left hand during the second set of the all-Belgian final.

　　This rematch of the French Open final earlier in the month ended with a 6-7 (4), 3-0 victory for Clijsters.

　　Henin-Hardenne, the French Open champion, stumbled at the end of the second game of the second set. She rose, wincing, and her trainer taped her left wrist. After losing the following game, she forfeited. Wimbledon starts today and she expects to play.

　　"I don't know exactly what's wrong, but my fingers are hurting, and it wasn't good for me to continue this match," said the second-seeded Henin-Hardenne.

　　Clijsters, who had three set points, said she was not too happy about winning by default.

　　At Eastbourne, England, American Chanda Rubin successfully defended her title at the Eastbourne grass-court tournament on Saturday, beating Spain's Conchita Martinez 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in a final delayed more than two hours because of a security alert.

　　The second-seeded Rubin became the first repeat winner at the Wimbledon warmup event since Martina Navratilova in 1990-91.

　　"The last point, when I won, it was really exciting," said Rubin. "(Martinez) is a tough player on any surface. She keeps the ball so low with her slice, and she changes her spins well."

　　Martinez won Wimbledon in 1994, but her appearance at this year's tournament is uncertain: She hurt her left wrist after falling heavily in the third set and also had her thigh strapped later in the set.

　　The match began more than 2-1/2 hours behind schedule. About 3,000 people were evacuated due to a "phone alert" but were allowed to return after police searched the grounds and found nothing.

　　At Nottingham, Britain's Greg Rusedski, using a solid first serve, beat American Mardy Fish 6-3, 6-2 in just 57 minutes to win the Samsung Open on Saturday.

　　The unseeded Rusedski won his first title since last August after foot and knee injuries kept him out of the game for nine months.