Swedish is Zabaleta's third career win
BASTAD, Sweden -- Defending champion Mariano Zabaleta outlasted French Open champion Gaston Gaudio 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 (4) Monday to win an all-Argentine final at the Swedish Open.
Zabaleta, who never trailed in the 2-hour, 18-minute final, missed a match point in the 12th game of the decisive set, but quickly capitalized on the second when leading 6-4 in the tiebreaker.
Gaudio moved to the net, but failed to put away the volley. Zabaleta then hit a backhand lob deep into the court.
Zabaleta won his third ATP Tour title, all on clay.
"I'm definitely coming back next year," Zabaleta said after beating Gaudio for the second time in four matches. "I feel really good here; this is my favorite tournament and I love this country.
"He (Gaudio) is a really good player, one of the best on clay, and I'm very happy to win this match."
Gaudio and Zabaleta, who trained together in Buenos Aires in their early teens, won rain-delayed semifinals in straight sets Sunday to set up the first title match between two Argentineans at the Swedish Open, one of the oldest clay-court tournaments.
Saturday's matches in both singles and doubles were rained out, the first time in 44 years, forcing the first Monday final since 1981.
Gaudio, seeded No. 2, was the highest seed in the tournament after top-seeded Carlos Moya, the 2002 champion, withdrew because of an injury.
The eighth-seeded Zabaleta, who lost only two sets in five matches, is 11-1 in Bastad.
Sweden's Jonas Bjorkman, the world's top-ranked doubles player who won a third straight Wimbledon title with Todd Woodbridge earlier this month, teamed with Mahesh Bhupathi to beat Simon Aspelin and Todd Perry 4-6, 7-6 (2), 7-6 (6) in the doubles final.
Copyright 2004 by The Associated Press
