Sixth-seeded David Prinosil used a blistering first serve and strong service return Sunday to upset defending champion David Wheaton in the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships.
Prinosil won 7-6 (7-3), 5-7, 6-2 for his first ATP Tour title. The 22-year-old Czech native and German citizen had 16 aces and won 85 percent of the points on his first serve."I knew he had a good serve going in and he proved it," said Wheaton, who had not dropped a set in four previous matches. "It wasn't only his serve, he returned my serve very well. He just returned better than anyone else the whole week against me."
Wheaton, seeded No. 1, appeared to gain momentum in the second set when he broke Prinosil to go up 6-5, then served out the set after two deuces. But Prinosil, launching 118-mph-and-better serves, held at love in the opening game of the third set and broke Wheaton in the fourth game.
"I played a careless game at 2-1," Wheaton said. "I missed a couple of volleys and that was crtitical. Once he won that game he played a good game to go up 4-1 and he was really on a roll."
Prinosil broke Wheaton in the final game, rocketing a forehand winner off Wheaton's serve on match point and letting out a yelp of delight.
Prinosil collected $32,600 for the victory, which moved his world ranking up 17 spots, to No. 75.