France's Corentin Moutet wins Chennai Open ATP challenger title

CHENNAI: France's Corentin Moutet, the second-seed, beat Andrew Harris of Australia 6-3, 6-3 in the singles final Sunday to win the title in Chennai Open ATP Challenger tennis tournament here.

The Frenchman played confidently to dash the hopes of Harris, the conqueror of topseeded Prajnesh Gunneswaran on Saturday.

The 19-year old left-hander displayed a range of exquisite shots, tremendous agility and exemplary court-craft in subduing Harris, a former junior doubles champion at the French Open and Wimbledon.

Harris coming into the final on the back of some tough matches, struggled to find his form particularly on his ground strokes.

His single-hand backhand did not find its target often enough.

Moutet returned with a great degree of confidence and precision and broke Harris's serve twice in the first set to win it 6-3.

In the second set, the Frenchman broke Harris twice and jumped to a 4-0 lead.

The Australian broke back in the next game with some powerful returns and then held serve to reduce the margin to 2-4.