Weekend winners: Nikolay Davydenko, Gilles Simon, Maria Sharapova

Top seed Nikolay Davydenko defeated Fernando Verdasco 6-4, 7-5 to win the Malaysia Open on Sunday.

Poles Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski took the doubles title after beating Igor Kunitsyn and Jaroslav Levinsky 6-2, 6-1.

In Bangkok, Gilles Simon won the Thailand Open after down Viktor Troicki 7-5, 6-3 for his first ATP title of the year and sixth overall.

In the doubles final, Americans Eric Butorac and Rajeev Ram beat Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and Mischa Zverev 7-6(4), 6-3.

Meanwhile, on Saturday, Maria Sharapova won her first tournament since returning from a 10-month injury layoff when Jelena Jankovic retired because of an arm injury in the first set of the Toray Pan Pacific final.

Sharapova was up 5-2 at Ariake Colosseum when the seventh-seeded Serb took a timeout to have her right arm examined by the trainer. Jankovic returned to the court and lost the first two points of the eighth game before retiring.

(Via AP; Images via Yahoo! Sports)

Lucky loser Rajeev Ram captures first ATP title

Rajeev Ram beat third-seeded Sam Querrey, 6-7 (3), 7-5, 6-3, in the Hall of Fame Tennis championships Sunday for his first ATP title.

Ram, a lucky loser after top-seeded Mardy Fish withdrew on Monday to replace Andy Roddick in the United States Davis Cup team, won the first all-American final on Newport’s grass courts in seven years.

It was the first ATP final for Ram, the 181st ranked player entering the week, and the lowest ranked to win an event this year.

“These days don’t come around very often unless you’re (Roger) Federer or (Rafael) Nadal. There’s definitely pressure,” Ram said.

“I tried to play tennis instead of thinking about what the moment was.”

Ram withdrew from his qualifier match on Monday, knowing he’d be placed in the draw when Fish pulled out.

“Winning tournaments is not normal on the tour for 99 percent of us,” he said.

Ram earned $79,000 for his singles title while Querrey collected $41,500.

Ram went on to win the doubles title as he partnered Jordan Kerr to defeat Michael Kohlman and Rogier Wassen 6-7(6), 7-6(7), 10-6.

(Via AP; Images via Yahoo! Sports)