Despite getting off the blocks in brilliant fashion, the 21-year-old Gasquet, tiring under the humid conditions, was not exactly on top of his game against Olivier Rochus in the $416,000 Kingfisher Airlines Open finale at the CCI courts here on Sunday evening.

But the strangely off-colour Frenchman did play the crucial points well against a hard-working Rochus to come through 6-3, 6-4 after an hour and 26-minute battle which never rose above the mediocre in front of a near capacity holiday crowd. There were moments of brilliance alright, from both, but they were few and far between.
Having breezed through his four earlier matches, Gasquet, ranked No 14 in the world and armed with a lethal backhand, was expected to win his fifth career ATP Tour title without breaking much sweat. It appeared so when, aided by an early break in the second game, he jumped to a 3-0 lead in the opening set.

But for some strange reason, the Frenchman, hailed the next big star after Roger Federer, took his foot off the pedal. Errors crept into his otherwise solid game, while the winners quickly dried up. Not the one to look a gift horse in the mouth, the Belgian began the repair job. He had the majority in the packed house on his side too.
Rochus, ranked 52 places below his opponent, didn't disappoint them. With a heart for battle and a game to match the relatively subdued Gasquet, the Belgian began to trouble his opponent with a barrage of winners, especially his single-handed backhand.

Besides, he was mixing it up nicely, catching Gasquet napping with his clever drop shots. The quick-moving top seed did get to a few of them, but couldn't convert them into winners. Rochus, however, didn't get a look-in at Gasquet's serve to get back into the set.

The Frenchman closed out the opening set in the ninth game. Gasquet broke Rochus in the first game of the second set, more due to his opponent's largesse than any brilliance on his part. But he allowed Rochus back into the set, serving a double fault to drop serve in the next game.

Besides struggling with his serve, Gasquet suffered lapses in concentration too thereafter. But he woke up from his slumber and went up a break when Rochus double-faulted on breakpoint in the seventh game. The top seed, seemingly back to his best now, then served out for the match in the tenth game.

"It feels nice to win again, it was my first title of the year," said an elated Gasquet, who won three titles last season, his breakthrough year. The Frenchman took home $65,850 for his efforts this week. "He makes you work for your points," Rochus said of his opponent. "He played some very good service games (second set) which I could do nothing about," added the Belgian who had to settle for the $35,500 runners-up cheque.

Swiss pair win
Later in the evening, Finland's Jarkko Nieminen and Robert Lindstedt of Sweden pair won the doubles title with a hard-fought 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-5) win over crowd favourites Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi.
The Indo-Pak pair, coming into the tournament with four titles in the Challengers in the last couple of months, was not good enough in the two tie-breaks. Swede Lindstedt made the difference, making some amazing volleys and returns to dash the Indo-Pak pair's hopes.

Results (final):

Singles: Richard Gasquet (Fra) bt Olivier Rochus (Bel) 6-3, 6-4.
Doubles: Robert Lindstedt (Swe)/ Jarkko Nieminen (Fin) bt Rohan Bopanna (Ind)/ Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi (Pak) 7-6 (7-3), 7-6 (7-5).