MONTE CARLO, April 25: Scrambling Argentine Guillermo Coria delivered a birthday blow to the victory dream of Rainer Schuettler, burying the German 6-2, 6-1, 6-3 on Sunday to win the 2.425-million-euros Monte Carlo Masters.
The title, eighth of a career for the South American, marked Coria's 26th consecutive victory on clay. The 22-year-old now owns two Masters crowns after winning Hamburg last May, just before reaching the semifinals of the French Open.
Schuettler, who turned 28 on a picture-perfect day in this Mediterranean principality, was unable to gift-wrap a victory as his usually steady attack flailed in the face of the Coria assault.
The triumph in one hour, 57 minutes was the first here for an Argentine since Coria's former coach Alberto Mancini beat Germany's Boris Becker in the 1989 final. -dpa
