19 - 25 September 2002 Issue No. 604 Sports	Current issue Previous issue Site map
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Drought ends

GUSTAVO kuerten has ended his 13-month barren spell with victory in the Brazil Open. The former world No 1 eventually got the better of Argentina's Guilermo Coria, winning an ill- tempered encounter.

Kuerten won six ATP titles in the first eight months of 2001 but ironically his poor run of form started at last year's Brazil Open. There he lost in the first round but on Sunday finally notched up his 17th career title and his first since the Tennis Masters Series event in Cincinnati in August 2001.

Kuerten said afterwards: "I'm sure that if they had written a soap opera about this final they couldn't have come up with anything more dramatic."

In an initially nervy encounter, the first set began with three service breaks in a row. But the players finally steadied and held serve for a first-set tiebreak, which Coria won 7-4. Kuerten then found himself serving to stay in the match in the following set.

After the first nine games went with serve, the Brazilian showed early signs of pressure before finally levelling the score at 5-5. He immediately turned the tide, breaking his opponent's serve and then serving out for the second set.

The missed opportunity caused Coria to buckle and the 20- year-old struggled to find his range and became increasingly less aggressive. Kuerten looked to be coasting to a victory in the third when he comfortably broke serve in the opening game. But a brief blip in concentration allowed Coria back into the match by breaking in the eighth game. Two games later the Argentine held a single match point over his rival but a potent second serve levelled the scores. With that opportunity wasted, Coria struggled to match Kuerten's attacking style in the final set tiebreak, losing 7-2.

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