Alex Corretja tuned up for this weekend's Davis Cup semifinal on clay against the United States, winning his second title Monday at the $600,000 Swiss Open.
The Spanish Number one overwhelmed Argentine Mariano Puerta 6-1, 6-3 in a match reduced to best-of-three sets after a week of rain threw the alpine tournament well behind schedule, pushing the title contest back a day.
Corretja, who claimed his second trophy of the year after winning the Masters Series event in California in March, was playing his third match in two days as the sun stayed out for the first time in more than a week.
On Sunday, the 26-year-old had to win a quarterfinal over Chile's Marcelo Rios and then defeated Gaston Gaudio of Argentina in the evening to reach the rare Monday finale.
Corretja now faces a dash down south to reach the northern town of Santander, venue for the Davis clash with the US, which will be missing big names Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi through injury.
Corretja banked a prize check of $81,000, while Puerta, who had beaten the Spaniard in their only previous meeting at Palermo in 1998, won $47,500.
The Spaniard made it two titles on the 1000m high clay of Gstaad. Two years ago, he lifted the trophy to deny Boris Becker a chance at a clay title, something the now-retired German never won.
Corretja's win makes it five titles in a row here for Spaniards and nine out of the last 11 trophies - (AFP)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
