Associated Press

Costa Do Sauipe, March 1,

Third-seeded Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil won the $380,000 Brasil Open on Sunday, beating fourth-seeded Agustin Calleri of Argentina 3-6, 6-2, 6-3.

The championship match was suspended because of rain on Saturday with Kuerten leading in the third set at the Suaipe Tourism Complex in north-eastern Brazil.

Despite an error-prone first set on Saturday, the former world No 1 came back to win the second and easily took the third set on Sunday in front of a partisan crowd in his home country.

Kuerten, who won the Brasil Open in 2002, had not won an important tournament since having arthroscopic hip surgery in February of that year. “This symbolises my recovery after my surgery,” Kuerten told Brazil’s Sport TV.

Open 13

MARSEILLE: Slovakian Dominik Hrbaty won his third title of the year, beating Swedish teenager Robin Soderling 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in Open 13 final.

Hrbaty’s win at the 593,750 $742,000 indoor tournament follows hard court successes in Adelaide, Australia and Auckland, New Zealand.

“It’s incredible,” Hrbaty said about winning his third title. “I wouldn’t have dreamt about that.”

“I won because of my experience,” he said. “I’ve played more finals than Robin, that made the difference.”

Soderling, 19, was appearing in only his second career final. He lost in a third set tiebreak to Mardy Fish in Stockholm last year.

“I’ve been a bit unlucky today and didn’t play my best tennis,” Soderling said.

“But Dominik is playing great and deserved to win. If he continues like that he’s going to be in the top 10 soon.”

The hard-hitting Hrbaty, 44th in the ATP entry rankings, now has six overall career titles since first triumphing in San Marino in 1998.

In the doubles final, No 1 ranked duo Mark Knowles of the Bahamas and Canada’s Daniel Nestor won 7-5, 6-3 over Czech pair Martin Damm and Cyril Suk, seeded second.