ROME, May 9: Sixth seed Carlos Moya produced a faultless display of claycourt tennis to beat Argentina's David Nalbandian 6-3 6-3 6-1 and win his first Rome Masters title on Sunday.
The victory finally laid to rest years of underachievement by the 27-year-old Spaniard in the Italian capital. In eight previous visits, the 1998 French Open winner, who had won 12 of his 15 career titles on slow clay, had reached the quarterfinals only once.
Nalbandian, who had played for more than two and a half hours to beat semifinal opponent Albert Costa, never achieved the consistency to seriously threaten the Spaniard.
The fifth seed committed a series of unforced errors to concede 10 points in a row on his way to losing the first set. Moya then gained a decisive break in the opening game of the second before racing out to a 5-0 lead in the third as Nalbandian's game unravelled.
"I'm really happy. After nine years, finally I've done it," said Moya. Asked how he now felt about his chances of winning the French Open, which starts later this month, Moya replied: "Obviously Roland Garros will be a lot tougher.
"It's two weeks of competition, you've got to win seven five-set matches and it requires a lot more concentration. "But this definitely gives my confidence a boost".
lucky Mauresmo
BERLIN: Amelie Mauresmo was awarded her second German Open title on Sunday when Venus Williams defaulted the final because a left ankle sprain left her on crutches.
The injury is another setback for the former world number one, who in the same period last year suffered a stomach muscle injury during the Warsaw final - ironically against Mauresmo.
Although she then struggled on until Wimbledon, where she fought though obvious pain before losing the final to sister Serena, she played no more events for the rest of the year.
After her return at the Australian Open in January, a leg muscle injury forced her to default her quarterfinal match in Tokyo, and she then withdrew from Antwerp.
Upon her second comeback, Williams won Charleston, and then added two victories in the United States' Fed Cup victory over Slovenia, and followed up by winning the Warsaw event last week with a win over Svetlana Kuznetsova. Her default brought to an end to a 15-match winning streak.
Williams suffered her injury during the final game of her semifinal win over Croatian teenager Karolina Sprem, which the third seeded American won 2-6, 6-3, 6-4. - Agencies
