Enqvist Battles Past Forget To Reclaim Sao Paulo Title

Thomas Enqvist came through a close tussle with Frenchman Guy Forget in Sao Paulo on Sunday to successfully defend the title that he won on his ATP Champions Tour debut in 2009 and move to the top of the South African Airways Rankings.

Enqvist struggled to overcome the 45-year-old Forget 3-6, 6-4, 10-3 (Champions’ Tie Break). The pair, who are Davis Cup Captains of their respective countries, slugged it out from the baseline for nearly two hours in the WTA Golden Hall in the heart of Sao Paulo, and in the crucial Champions Tie Break only a couple of loose errors from the Forget racquet handed the match and the title to the Swede.

Afterwards, the Swede confessed that the final could easily have gone the way of Forget.

“I was lucky to win this one,” he said. “Guy’s serve is so tough to return and he served so well today and that made it really tough. I finally managed to break at the end of the second set and then I played a great Champions’ Tie Break but until then it was so close.”

Despite losing in the final, Forget was pleased with his efforts, and to be back playing on the ATP Champions Tour after a break of a few months.

“I tried as hard as I could today,” he said. “I was going so hard that I started to have pain in my arm because I haven’t served so big in such a long time. I think he was just too good in the end though and he deserved to win. Overall it was a great week here in Sao Paulo and now I really want to play more because I’ve had such a good time. Playing with Yevgeny (Kafelnikov) and Thomas and all those guys who are such gentlemen on the court, that’s really the type of spirit you want to play tennis in and they’re all such great ambassadors for the sport.”

In the3rd/4th place play-off, Yevgeny Kafelnikov rounded off a successful week with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over Brazilian wildcard Jaime Oncins. The third place finish means that Kafelnikov collects 200 vital South African Airways Rankings points, moving him up to third place in the rankings behind Barcelona Open Champion Goran Ivanisevic.

Sao Paulo was the fifth of ten stops on the ATP Champions Tour in 2010, which culminates with a season-ending AEGON Masters event at London’s Royal Albert Hall from 30th November to 5th December. The season began in February in Delray Beach, where Pat Rafter beat John McEnroe in the final. At the second event in Zurich in March, Stefan Edberg overcame Goran Ivanisevic in three sets. Following that Enqvist beat Ferreira in the final in Bogotá, having swept through the tournament without the loss of a set. At the most recent event in Barcelona, Enqvist saw his unbeaten run halted in the final by Ivanisevic. The Tour will next call in at Graz, Austria, followed by events in Algarve (Portugal), Paris (France) and London (UK).

To view the order of play and the round-robin groups, click results.