Moya prevails in duel with Srichaphan

Carlos Moya, the top-seeded Spaniard, won the Tata Open singles title yesterday, defeating the defending champion, Paradorn Srichaphan, of Thailand, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6, in the final in Madras.

Moya, a former world No 1 and seventh in the ATP rankings, won the 15th title of his career by clinching the third-set tie-break after a testing two-hour duel with Srichaphan, who was making his third successive final appearance here.

The 11th-ranked Srichaphan, who became the first Asian to break into the ATP's top 10 last year, lost the 2002 final to the Argentinian Guillermo Canas, but returned to win the title in 2003 without dropping a set in the tournament.

"This is an exciting start to the new season," said Moya, the 1998 French Open champion. "Anything could have happened in the tie-breaker. I played the important points very aggressively and it clicked."

Pinned back by Srichaphan's lobs that complemented his strong forehand shots, Moya's accuracy helped him exert pressure despite playing from the baseline. The Spaniard clinched the first set by breaking Srichaphan's service in the 10th game. The Thai player hit a crosscourt wide to present Moya with two set points and then committed a double fault to drop only his second set of the tournament.

Srichaphan bounced back by breaking serve in the third game of the second set and then won the set by breaking Moya again in the ninth game. In the deciding third set, games went with serve until Moya's deep forehands eventually proved the difference in the tie-break.

In Melbourne, the unseeded Dominik Hrbaty, of Slovakia, beat the French qualifier Michael Llodra, 6-4, 6-0, to win the final of the Australian Mens' Hardcourt Championship.

Llodra, 23, failed to pick up a point in the opening two games of the match but broke back in the fourth game to level at 2-2. But the Frenchman made a double fault on break point in the ninth game to give Hrbaty a 5-4 advantage, which he seized upon with a forehand winner in the next game to take the first set 6-4, before going on to complete a comfortable victory.