Albert Costa beat fellow Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero 6-1, 6-0, 4-6, 6-3 to win the French Open men's singles title in Paris today. It is his first Grand Slam title success.
The 20th seed won a two-hour, 30-minute contest which had been interrupted for 20 minutes in the first set because of rain.
Ferrero, seeded 11th and who had suffered from an ankle sprain early in the tournament, looked out-of-sorts as his game fell apart despite a valiant fightback.
It was the first Grand Slam final for both men and the 12th title for 26-year-old Costa who had not won an event in three years and who was ranked as low as 40 in the world last year.
Costa, who ousted defending champion Gustavo Kuerten of Brazil and last year's runner-up Alex Corretja of Spain on his way to the final, moves into second place in the Champions Race as a result of the win.
AFP