Radek Stepanek became the oldest winner of the ATP Washington Classic since Jimmy Connors in 1988, the 32-year-old Czech upsetting French top seed Gael Monfils 6-4, 6-4 in Sunday's championship match. Stepanek won his first ATP title in 2 1/2 years and the fifth of his career, rushing the net to control the tempo and frustrate the fleet-footed Frenchman to claim the $264,000 top prize at the $1.4 million US Open hardcourt tune-up. "It's a great satisfaction for me," Stepanek said.
"It's great to still be able to compete with the young guns." Seventh-ranked Monfils, in his first US final and his first final of any kind since last year's Paris Masters, fell to 3-11 in ATP title matches.