Dutchman Melvyn Op Der Heijde handed himself "a belated Christmas present" when he outplayed Sweden's Alexander Hartman 6-4, 6-0 to win the men's singles at the ITF Aviation Cup last night.
The men's final was evenly contested at the start with both players tied 4-4 at the end of eight games. Op Der Heijde then held serve in the next game and got the most crucial break in the tenth to win the set 6-4.
In the second set, Hartman looked dazed as Op Der Heijde came up with persistent winners and a better variety of strokes to win easily 6-0.
"I think this is a perfect start to the new year," Op Der Heijde beamed.
The Dutchman, 29, also won the year-end Futures tournament held in Doha at the end of last year. Both men's finalists will be travelling to Qatar for a second Futures event starting there today.
"I go to Doha with a good feeling … and I hope the luck stays," he smiled.
Hartman said: "I think Melvyn outplayed me and he was a deserving winner. I hope I can make it up to myself in Qatar next week."
Sandra Klemenschits completed a rare double for herself when she cleverly eased past top seed Kyra Nagy 6-4, 6-1 for the women's crown. She had teamed up with twin sister Daniella late on Friday for the ladies doubles title.
The ladies final had all the ingredients of a mouth-watering clash as neither player seemed prepared to give anything away. But, the top-seeded Nagy looked a bit tardy in her approach and Klemenschits took maximum advantage to keep her moving around on the court.
Both broke each other throughout the opening set until they were tied 3-3.
But it was Klemenschits's variation of her game that took Nagy off guard as she got the vital break in the seventh game, and then held serve to go 5-3 up.
Nagy came up with a break of her own in the very next game, but the crafty Austrian chose her shots between the high spin lob and the backhand slice to win the set 6-4 in 30 minutes.
The second set was one-sided with Nagy making far too many unforced errors. To make matters worse, the top seed racked up several double faults to let slip any slim chance she might have had against her younger opponent.
"I just couldn't find my game. I lost far too many serves," Nagy said.
Klemenschits was thrilled to win a fourth career singles title. "This is a bonus. We came here prepared for the doubles, and now we go back with two titles," the Austrian said.
Both winners receive wild card entries for the qualifying rounds of the Dubai Tennis Championships which will be held at the Dubai Tennis Stadium from February 21.
Shaikh Hasher Maktoum, Dubai Director of Information, gave away the prizes along with Colm McLaughlin, Managing Director of Dubai Duty Free.
