Good enough

Coetzer, Kuerten bag Mexican Open titles

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Posted: Sunday March 04, 2001 3:57 PM

Updated: Sunday March 04, 2001 5:06 PM

Top-seeded Amanda Coetzer won the Mexican Open by defeating Elena Dementieva 2-6, 6-1, 6-2. AP

ACAPULCO, Mexico (AP) -- Top-seeded Gustavo Kuerten cruised to an easy victory in the Mexican Open on Sunday, taking down Galo Blanco 6-4, 6-2 while Amanda Coetzer had a tougher time, but defeated Elena Dementieva 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 to take the women's trophy.

The Brazilian dominated Spanish wildcard entry Blanco throughout the match. After landing one spectacular winner from Kuerten, Blanco held up his hand as if to say, "Go easy on me."

"I couldn't hope for more," a beaming Kuerten said after the match. "I think I prepared myself well and I was pretty relaxed."

Kuerten, a lanky 24-year-old from Brazil's southern cowboy country, dominated the tournament from day one. His toughest match came against fellow Brazilian Fernando Meligeni in the quarterfinals, but Meligeni developed a back cramp and retired in the third set.

Blanco surprised second-seeded Franco Squillari of Argentina in the first round and battled his way through each game that followed. He was clearly overwhelmed by Kuerten's play.

Coetzer, a South African who was the top female seed in the tournament, recovered from a rough first set to defeat Dementieva, the Russian second seed, in the baking sunshine.

Coetzer seemed overwhelmed by Dementieva's shots in the first set before regrouping. Dementieva appeared to tire in the heat, screaming "Nyet!" as she hit long balls or missed serves.

"I told myself, `If she was going to win the match, she was going to win on winners only, and not because of my errors,"" Coetzer said. "When I won the last point, I felt as happy as in any huge match I've won."

Coetzer, who in the semifinals Saturday fell behind in each set before defeating Argentina's Paola Suarez, acknowledged she appeared to need the pressure of being behind.

"It really makes me focus and think about what I have to do to change," she said.

However, she added, "I hope that doesn't become a habit."

Service seemed almost a liability during the match, in which 15 services were broken and only eight weren't. Coetzer broke nine of Dementieva's services, while Dementieva broke six of Coetzer's.

Kuerten's title won him US$130,000 and Coetzer took home US$27,000.

Kuerten was scheduled to play again Sunday, in the doubles final with American partner Donald Johnson. They faced David Adams of South Africa and Martin Garcia of Argentina.

Maria Jose Martinez and Ana Medina of Spain won the women's doubles final on Saturday night, defeating Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain and Paola Suarez of Argentina 6-4, 6-7 (5), 7-5.