Thomas Enqvist, his serve whistling as high as 125 mph, beat French Open champion Yevgeny Kafelnikov 6-2, 6-4, 7-5 Sunday to capture the Paris Open for the biggest payday of his career.
"I felt like I couldn't lose," Enqvist said. "I was kind of playing out of my mind. I was in a zone today."Enqvist served 20 aces, including four in the final game, and closed the match against the Russian in 1 hour, 26 minutes.
"It was very important to serve well against him," Enqvist said. `It allowed me to play harder and be more aggressive."
Kafelnikov, the No. 4 seed, and Enqvist, No. 12, were the only seeds to get past the third round in a tournament that began with Pete Sampras, Michael Chang, Boris Becker and Andre Agassi.
In winning his ninth career title and second this year, Enqvist earned $393,000. Kafelnikov picked up $207,000 and now has won close to $1 million in two tournaments in Paris. He took the singles and doubles titles at the French Open.
"It's nice to see that he could lose in Paris," Enqvist said.
Despite the loss, Kafelnikov will move up to a career-high ranking of No. 3 when the ATP Tour list is released Monday. He has a slight chance to overtake Sampras for the No. 1 spot by the end of the year. Enqvist moves into the Top 10.
The 22-year-old Swede didn't allow Kafelnikov into the match.
"He was on top of me from the beginning and didn't give me any chances to come to the net," Kafelnikov said. "When I made good shots, he made better shots."
Said Enqvist: If you give Kafelnikov a little bit of a chance, he'll probably come back and win it."
Ten minutes into the match, Enqvist was up 4-0 behind sizzling service returns and penetrating groundstrokes. He went on to take the first set as they split the next four games.
Enqvist served just four aces in the second set but three came at key times. He ended two games with an ace and another brought him to set point, which he won with a service winner.
Kafelnikov gained the lead for the first time in the match when he went up 3-0 at the start of the third set, dropping just one point in those games.
But Kafelnikov lost his next service game at love with a double fault and a netted smash. Things were even in the third set until 5-5.
Then two unforced errors by Kafelnikov and two winners by Enqvist put the Swede up 6-5 and serving for the match.
He ended it in style, serving four aces.
On Friday, Enqvist stopped Stefan Edberg's run in the next to last pro tournament of his career.
Sampras, Chang, Becker and Agassi were gone by Thursday. Becker also withdrew from the Stockholm tournament because of an inflamed right ankle.
Becker and Agassi still qualified for the season-ending ATP Tour World Championships, joining Sampras, Chang, Thomas Muster, Goran Ivanisevic and Kafelnikov in the final eight at Hanover, Germany, Nov. 19-24.
Richard Krajicek and Wayne Ferreira are vying for the final spot. Ferreira must reach the final in this week's Stockholm tournament to overtake Krajicek.
AMERITECH CUP
CHICAGO (AP) - Jana Novotna stopped Jennifer Capriati's bid for her first title since 1993, winning the final five games Sunday to take a 6-4, 3-6, 6-1 victory in the finals of the Ameritech Cup.
Novotna, second-seeded and the No. 5 player in the world, won her third title of 1996 with a strong serve and a versatile game featuring a relentless array of sliced backhands.
Capriati, who captivated the tennis world as a 14-year-old six years ago, returned to the tour this season after two years of personal turmoil that included two stints in drug rehabilitation.
Cheered loudly by a crowd at the University of Illinois-Chicago Pavilion, Capriati, unseeded and ranked 50th, showed she still has the game to return to the tour's elite.
She upset top-ranked Monica Seles on Saturday night and also had victories in the tournament over defending champion Magdalena Maleeva and 1995 finalist Lisa Raymond.
Capriati, now 20 and without a title since 1993 in Sydney, displayed the strong baseline game and timing on ground strokes that once had her ranked sixth. But she didn't have enough in the final set Sunday, losing to Novotna and her chip-and-charge tactics for the third time this year.
Novotna broke Capriati at love in the fourth game of the final set for a 3-1 lead when Capriati made three errors. She finished off her 12th tour singles victory by winning the final seven points.
In the second set, Novotna double faulted to give Capriati a break and a 4-2 lead. Capriati's down-the-line forehand passing shot set up the break point, seconds after two great volleys by Novotna, one almost from her knees. Capriati then held twice to win the set 6-3.
Novotna won the first set after a nearly 20-minute 10th game when Capriati squandered five break points and there were six deuces.
Novotna finally captured the game and the set when Capriati was long with a volley, wide with a backhand and deep with a forehand after a long run.