Indonesian No. 1 Christopher Rungkat won the 2009 Cigna Open national tennis tournament title in the men's singles division after outdoing Nesa Artha 6-2, 6-1 in the final at the Sultan Hotel Executive Club tennis court here on Sunday.
Opening the first set of the Rp 200 million (US$17,000) tournament, top seed Christopher overcame fifth seed Nesa, who forced him to play deuces in the third game, for a 2-1 lead.
Christopher fought back and saved his best effort for fourth game. The convincing Nesa showed his increasing performance with an ace, pressing the winner with deuces to win the sixth game.
Luck seemed to be on Christopher's side, after a heavy downpour forced a break in the sixth game. The 19-year-old champ then managed to regain control and ended the first set with a solid 6-2.
Christopher secured both games in the second set.
Nesa tried to keep up with another ace - resulting in 2-1 in the fourth - but failed to overcome Christopher's attack, making several unforced errors.
Taking advantage of Nesa's flaws, Christopher booked the title with 6-1 at the end of the second set.
Christopher said he was glad and happy to bring home this year's trophy.
"(The win is) exactly what I wanted. Still, it was a good surprise for me."
Both finalists are members of the Indonesian Davis Cup squad, which will play Kuwait in their first round match in Solo, Central Java, on March 6-8.
Christopher, along with Nesa, won the doubles title after beating veterans Bonit Wiryawan and Andrian Raturandang 6-1, 7-6 (4).
In the women's division, top seed Jessy Rompies destroyed the younger Grace Sari Ysidora's hopes of snatching the trophy, winning 6-2, 6-3.
The Cigna Open is a warm-up event for the Indonesian Davis Cup team prior to the real test next month.
Besides Christopher and Nesa, the country will also field Prima Simpatiaji and 2008 Cigna Open champion Sunu Wahyu Trijati.
At the 2009 Cigna Open, Sunu was a semifinalist, while Prima had to pull out during the quarterfinals due to a nagging tendon injury on his right knee.
Commenting on the team's preparation for the Davis Cup, Dutch coach Sten van Beurden said that all of his four players had been training hard - technically, physically and mentally - over the past three weeks.
"We're improving every part of it. The Cigna Open has been helping the players polish their technical skills," Beurden said.
Indonesia is currently 56th in the Davis Cup ranking; Kuwait is 51st. In the 2008 Davis Cup, Indonesia defeated Hong Kong only to loose to China in the Asia/Oceania Group Zone II, the same group it is in for this year's event.
Beurden further said that, during preparation, he urged every player to focus on one aspect of the game, which could help them perform better in the Davis Cup.
"The target is, of course, victory. Therefore, I've told them to perfect one particular skill as a strategy to help the team win."
Indonesia will leave for Solo on Feb. 25 to for a week of intense training prior playing Kuwait.
