Argentine Guillermo Coria beat compatriot Agustin Calleri 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 to win the 2.45 million euro Hamburg Masters in Hamburg on Sunday.
The 12th seed, in his third year on the circuit, wrapped up his first Masters title in no nonsense fashion to gain compensation for his recent Monte Carlo final drubbing by Spain's Juan Carlos Ferrero.
Coria comes from Venado Tuerto, a city he modestly describes as "the most beautiful in the world."
It is also the birthplace of Guillermo Vilas, a sporting hero of Corias' father who 21 years ago named his son in honour of the former Argentinian star.
Coria was adding this to his debut ATP success at Vina del Mar in 2001 which came just before he was handed a six month ban for taking a cocktail of illegal vitamins.
His cause was helped here by a nervous Calleri competing in his first final at this level.
Coria broke in the eighth game to clinch the opening set, and from then on never looked in any serious danger.
Leading 3-0 in the third set he was racing to victory but to his credit Calleri kept him waiting before finally succumbing in two hours 12 minutes.
"I'm so happy, I've played the best tennis of my life this week," said Coria, who only lost one set and who will be hoping his rich vein of form spills over to the French Open at Roland Garros -- though it won't extend to next week's tournament in St Polten in Austria.
Coria said he had a sore groin and did not want to risk it so close to the French Open, though he would travel to Austria to undergo a medical to support his withdrawal from the event.
Hamburg this week will be remembered for producing an all Argentinian semi-final line-up, the first time four men from the same country have met in the last four of a Masters event.
Calleri, who has been suffering from a cold, now plans to reach Paris on Wednesday to prepare for the French Open which starts on May 26.
"It was an important week for me," said Calleri.
"I got to the final, I lost it. I had my tactics that I had discussed with my coach, but Guillermo just played too well. He didn't make any unforced errors. That's tennis -- sometimes you win, sometimes you lose."
Taiwanese world No. 1 women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei on Saturday overcame a first-set loss to win her opening match at the Madrid Open. Top seeds Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium, with whom she last month won her fourth Indian Wells women’s doubles title, bounced back from a rocky first set to beat Asia Muhammad of the US and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia 2-6, 6-4, 10-2. Hsieh and Mertens were next to face Heather Watson of the UK and Xu Yifan of China in the round of 16. Thirty-eight-year-old Hsieh last month reclaimed her world No. 1 spot after her Indian
EYES ON THE PRIZE: Armed with three solid men’s singles shuttlers and doubles Olympic champions, Taiwan aim to make their first Thomas Cup semi-final, Chou Tien-chen said Taiwanese badminton star Tai Tzu-ying yesterday quickly dispatched Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei in straight sets, while her male counterpart Chou Tien-chen beat Germany’s Kai Schaefer, as Taiwan’s women’s and men’s teams won their Group B opening rounds of the TotalEnergies BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Chengdu, China. World No. 5 Tai beat Goh 21-19, 22-20 in a speedy 33 minutes, her fourth straight victory over the world No. 24 shuttler since they first faced each other in the quarter-finals of the 2018 Malaysia Open, where Tai went on to win the women’s singles title. Malaysia followed up Tai’s opening victory
Chen Yi-tung (陳奕通) secured a historic Olympic berth on Sunday by winning the senior men’s foil event at the 2024 Asia Oceania Zonal Olympic Fencing Qualifiers in United Arab Emirates. Chen defeated Samuel Elijah of Singapore 15-4 in the final in Dubai to secure the only wild card in the event, making him the first male Olympian fencer from Taiwan in 36 years and only the sixth Taiwanese fencer to ever qualify for the quadrennial event. The last appearance by a Taiwanese male fencer at the Olympics was in 1988, when Wang San-tsai (王三財) and Cheng Ming-hsiang (鄭明祥) competed in Seoul. The
Rafael Nadal on Tuesday lost in straight sets to 31st-ranked Jiri Lehecka in the fourth round at the Madrid Open, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the semi-finals in the women’s doubles. Nadal said that he was feeling good about his progress following his latest injury layoff. Nadal called it a “positive week” in every way and said his body held up well. “I was able to play four matches, a couple of tough matches,” Nadal said. “So very positive, winning three matches, playing four matches at the high level of tennis. I enjoyed a lot playing at home. I leave here with