Home favourite Gael Monfils on song

GAEL Monfils showed his form less than six weeks before the Davis Cup final by beating Croatian Ivan Ljubicic 6-2, 5-7, 6-1 to win the Open Sud de France title yesterday.

Frenchman Monfils, the third seed, survived a lapse in concentration in the second set to seal victory against the fourth seed in one hour and 52 minutes and claim his third ATP title.

The local favourite, gunning for a place in the French team for the Davis Cup final in Belgrade against Serbia, raced through the opening set.

He broke early in the second but Ljubicic hit back and took Monfils's serve in the 11th game to level the match. The Frenchman rallied, however, and snatched five games in a row before sealing victory with his 11th ace.

In the doubles at the same tournament, Englishman Ross Hutchins enjoyed victory as he teamed up with Australian Stephen Huss to secure an upset win. The pair won 6-2, 4-6, 10-7 against the fourth-seeded duo of Marc Lopez and Eduardo Schwank, winning their second ATP Tour world team title.

Unseeded Hutchins and Huss broke twice to win the first but their opponents responded to take the second. Lopez and Schwank looked set to take the win only for the British-Australian partnership to overcome a 4-7 deficit.