Tennis: Hrbaty wins Heineken Open

3:10 PM

Dominik Hrbaty has beaten Francisco Clavet in this afternoon's Heineken Open final in Auckland.

The 33-year-old Clavet won the first set 6-4, but second seed Hrbaty came back strongly for the second and third defeating the Spaniard 6-2, 6-3 in just under two hours.

This is Hrbaty's first Heineken Open win and his third ATP title.

Despite playing in the Open in 1998 and 1999, the 23-year-old Slovakian had never made it past the last round of qualifying.

Hrbaty yesterday beat Juan Balcells 7-6 (7-2), 6-3 on his road to today's final while Clavet made short work of Britain's Greg Rusedski - 6-3, 6-2 in 64 minutes - in the other of yesterday's semifinals.