Mirnyi reigns supreme over courageous Sluiter

Max Mirnyi has won the 30th ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament, beating local man Raemon Sluiter in the final 7-6 (3), 6-4. "It is a fantastic tournament to win. My father, who is also my coach, celebrated his birthday earlier this week. I forgot to get him anything, so this one's for him" Mirnyi said after winning his first ATP title ever.

Looking back, the first game of the opening set was arguable the most important. Sluiter played several great passing shots to create a break point. However, his return on Mirnyi's second service hit the net. The number 46 in the world subsequently served an ace to take the game (1-0). "If you break someone' service early on in the match, the chances are that the rest of the match will see additional service breaks," Sluiter had said after his semi-final match against Sebastien Grosjean, "but if the match goes with service for a long time, the likelihood of a service break diminishes".

Mirnyi clearly got into his rhythm as the match progressed and Sluiter barely managed to get a grip on the Byelorussian's service. As the Dutchman's service games were equally good, the opening set went to a tie-break, which saw Sluiter immediately break his opponent's serve. Mirnyi came up with a ruthless response, from which Sluiter was unable to recover (first set: 7-6 (7-3).

The fifth game of the second set was all-decisive. At deuce on Sluiter's service, the Dutchman played a volley that took a breather on the net tape before dropping down on the wrong side. Mirnyi converted the break point to take a 2-3 lead. No matter how hard Sluiter tried to make life difficult for his opponent, Mirnyi' service proved unbreakable. During the next three games, `The Beast' conceded only three points. Although Sluiter tried to encourage his fans, their presence was only noticeable in the last game. By that stage, nothing could have kept Mirnyi from taking the second set (6-4).

"Max has pushed me forward because his Dutch isn't all that great" Sluiter joked during the price-giving ceremony. "He deserves a big round of applause, because he was the better player. I am usually quite chatty, but I would like to take this opportunity simply to thank everybody. My family, my friends, my coach and everybody here at Ahoy'. But above all, I would like to thank the man who made it all possible: thank you Wim" said Sluiter, referring to the late Wim Buitendijk, who, until last year, acted as Tournament Director. The crowd observed a minute's silence in his honour before the match.