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| July 17, 2007 | Tuesday | Rajab 01, 1428 |
Santoro wins all-French battle
NEWPORT (Rhode Island), July 16: Frenchman Fabrice Santoro won his first ATP event in five years when he beat compatriot Nicolas Mahut 6-4, 6-4 in the Hall of Fame Championship final on Sunday.
The victory was the 34-year-old Santoro's fifth ATP title and the first since he won in Dubai in 2002.
The fourth-seeded Santoro broke serve three times and was broken only once in winning the first ATP meeting between the pair. It was also Santoro's Newport debut.
Santoro won 87 per cent of his first-serve points versus 71
per cent for the fifth-seeded Mahut.
In addition to his 2002 Dubai win, Santoro also has claimed titles at Doha in 2000, Marseille in 1999 and Lyon in 1997.
BASTAD (Sweden): David Ferrer outclassed his Spanish compatriot Nicolas Almagro in the Swedish Open final on Sunday, winning 6-1, 6-2 to clinch his fourth career title.
It was the second seed's third win over Almagro in as many meetings but the first on clay. Last year, Ferrer beat Almagro at the Cincinnati Masters and the US Open.
On a sunny day after most of the tournament had been filled with rain interruptions, Ferrer took command from the start by forcing an impatient Almagro into long rallies, breaking him in the opening game and again to 4-1 and 6-1.
Almagro, whose usually good serving let him down, was broken again as Ferrer went 2-0 up in the second set before wrapping up victory in one hour eight minutes.
The Bastad win was the second title this year for 25-year-old Ferrer, who also won in Auckland in January.
GSTAAD (Switzerland): French fifth seed Paul-Henri Mathieu overcame blistering temperatures and a dogged opponent to secure his fourth career title at the Swiss Open on Sunday.
The world No 28 had to twice come from behind against Italian world No 111 Andreas Seppi in temperatures approaching 40 degrees centigrade before eventually winning through 6-7, 6-4, 7-5.
Seppi, playing in his first ATP final, got off to a strong start as he stormed through the opening-set tiebreak 7-1.
Mathieu rallied, hitting a backhand winner down the line to take a decisive break late in the second set, but was soon back in trouble in the decider.
After successfully defending two break points in the sixth game, the Frenchman was less fortunate in the eighth when Seppi benefited from a lucky net-cord bounce to go 5-3 up with serve.
As he served for the match though Seppi seemed suddenly struck by nerves, handing Mathieu three break points and then promptly double-faulting.
After breaking Seppi once more to go 6-5 up, Mathieu found time for some wobbles of his own, overhitting a forehand to trail 30-40 and offer the Italian the prospect of at least another tiebreak.
The chance evaporated as Mathieu dug himself out of danger with an ace.
He then fired in two successive winners to end an entertaining contest and clinch his second claycourt title of the season, following his triumph in Casablanca in April.
—Reuters
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