Goran Ivanisevic successfully defended his Alex Tennis Classics title after a 7-6, 7-6 victory over home-favourite Richard Krajicek in Eindhoven.
In a typically big-serving encounter, break-point opportunities were few and far between, but Ivanisevic found the shots he needed on the important points.
It moves the Croatian to the top of the Stanford Financial Champions Tour Rankings and improved his head-to-head against Krajicek to 10-3.
"He is such a tough opponent. It doesn't matter what I do against him he seems to get the better of me," said a disappointed Krajicek afterwards.
"Maybe in the future I should just kick him during the change-of-ends!"
For Ivanisevic it was an enjoyable victory after a tough loss against Paul Haarhuis in the round-robin stages.
"I'm really happy to defend my title, particularly as I lost to the Tournament Director on the first day!", he said.
In the 3rd/4th place play-off, John McEnroe registered his first victory over Jim Courier on the Champions Tour.
His 6-4, 4-6, 10-8 (on a Champions' Tie-Break) victory brought a smile back to McEnroe's face after his demoralising loss to Krajicek yesterday.
The Tour will now move onto Essen (27-30 October) for the final event on the Delta Tour of Champions before the Champions Masters gets underway at the Royal Albert Hall on November 29.
McEnroe won the first event on the 2005 Delta Tour of Champions, the European section of the worldwide ATP Champions Tour, when he triumphed in Frankfurt in February. Sergi Bruguera overcame Pat Cash in the Doha final in April, and Ivanisevic also beat Cash a week later in the Hong Kong final. Muster took the first clay court title of the year with victory in Rome in May, and then Cedric Pioline triumphed in Novi, Croatia in June. McEnroe won his second title of the year in the Algarve in August, and then Muster lifted the Graz crown to top the rankings. The most recent event saw Courier triumph, beating Pioline in the Paris final.
Players compete for points throughout the year to qualify for The Champions Masters which takes place between November 29 and December 4. The top ten players in the Stanford Financial Champions Tour Rankings after all events are complete will qualify automatically. The field in London will increase to 12 with the addition of two wild cards. There is a $100,000 prize on offer for the winner in London.
To be eligible to compete on the ATP Champions Tour, players must have been either a World No.1 during their competitive playing careers, a Grand Slam singles finalist, or a singles player on a victorious Davis Cup team, and no longer active on the ATP tour. Each event can also invite two players of its choice to take wild cards.
