Kafelnikov nets President's Cup

Kafelnikov damaged his hand in the semi-final

Yevgeny Kafelnikov 7-6 7-5 Vladimir Voltchkov

Yevgeny Kafelnikov overcame a hand injury for victory in the final of the President's Cup over Vladimir Voltchkov.

The Russian sealed his 26th career title in the process as he overcame the surprise finalist in straight sets.

Voltchkov, a qualifier from Belarus, had coasted into the final with a comfortable 6-3 6-2 win over eighth seed Davide Sanguinetti.

Kafelnikov, meanwhile, had struggled in his semi-final against Thailand's Paradorn Srichapan after dislocating his finger.

The injury had left him a major doubt for the climax to the $550,000 tournament but, prior to facing Voltchkov, he insisted he promised to go one better than his runners-up spot 12 months ago.

It was my first final and I think I was just too nervous to tell you the truth

Vladimir Voltchkov

Afterwards he said: "I still had a lot of pain and I don't think I would have finished the match if it had not been a final played in front of so many people, including the President (of Uzbekistan Islam Karimov)."

Both players were evenly matched throughout the opening set, Kafelnikov only taking the advantage 8-6 in the tiebreak.

He looked to be cruising to a comfortable victory in the second set with a 3-0 advantage but Voltchkov started to take advantage of his injury to level the scores at three games apiece.

The Belarussian, though, was let down by a slip in his concentration and he was broken once again in the 12th and final game of the second set.

Following his defeat, he said: "It was my first final and I think I was just too nervous to tell you the truth."

Of his game plan, he added: "To be honest with you, I knew of his injury and wanted to get advantage from it.

"On the other hand, if he was seriously injured, he would have defaulted and, if he didn't do that, it was okay for me to play like that."