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El Aynaoui wins Casablanca Open Posted: Sunday April 14, 2002 5:56 PMCASABLANCA (Reuters) -- Second-seeded Moroccan Younes El Aynaoui won the Casablanca Open with a 3-6 6-3 6-2 victory over defending champion Guillermo Canas of Argentina after being roared on by a packed stadium on Sunday. It was only the second time in the 18-year history of the event that a Moroccan has won following Hicham Arazi's success in 1997, although El Aynaoui did reach the final in 1993. Canas appeared in control during the first set as he kept the ball away from Aynaoui's powerful right hand strokes. The tactic worked as the Argentine broke Aynaoui in the eighth game after two double-faults by the Moroccan number one to win the set 6-3 in 33 minutes. The umpire had to intervene several times to calm the home crowd at Casablanca's 5,000-capacity al-Amal center court. Aynaoui fought back in the second set when he broke Canas in the sixth game and went on to take it 6-3 in 50 minutes. The third set saw Aynaoui playing a more attacking game and the change in tactics paid off as he twice broke Canas. He fired two aces to take the set 6-2 and secure his fourth career title. "It's fantastic... Unfortunately, I lost the first set, but the public were brilliant and strengthened my belief in a victory," El Aynaoui told the state-run 2M television channel. "My tennis has not been up to scratch 100 percent in the tournament, but everybody here was expecting me to win the title after the good start that I've had for 2002," he added. Canas had reached the final after winning 7-5 6-4 against Frenchman Julien Boutter, who was suffering from back pains, in a match which ended at 2300 GMT on Saturday due to rain delays.
Copyright 2003 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. |
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