Rusedski masters Mantilla to take second tour title of year

Greg Rusedski claimed his first tour title since January after defeating the unseeded Felix Mantilla, of Spain, in the final of the RCA Championships in Indianapolis last night.

The British No 2, who last tasted tournament success in Auckland, beat the world No 1, Lleyton Hewitt, in the third round on his way to the final. And he made sure that notable victory was not in vain by fighting back from the loss of the first set on a tie-break to win 6-7, 6-4, 6-4.

Rusedski broke Mantilla in both the second and final set, but earlier he lost his cool when at set-point down in the first-set tie-break, Mantilla's return looked long. The British No 2 was furious with the call and threw his racket down in disgust, but the decision stood.

Rusedski regained his composure to break at 4-3 in the second set and held his serve to level the match. He broke the Spaniard again in the seventh game of the final set and then battled back from 40-0 down in the next to hold his service game before going on to close out the match 6-4 and take the title.

Rusedski is hoping to use his victory as a springboard for the US Open at Flushing Meadows at the end of the month. He reached the final there in 1997.

"I'm excited about winning this trophy because this tournament has had great champions in the past," he said. "Many of those have gone on to have great success at the US Open and I hope to do the same. This win is very good for my confidence. In the past two weeks I've won a tournament and beaten the top three players in the world, so I have to think that not too many people will want to see my name in the first round of the US Open.

"It's good for me because I feel like I've been battling back for two years, since I was six in the world and I think I've been very close to breaking through. This will help me to be able to do that."

Mantilla said: "Greg served very well today and that made it tough for me. He deserved to win it because of all the pressure he put on me. When he's serving huge it makes it bad for you."

Rusedski had also fought his way back from a set down to defeat the third seed, Tommy Haas, 3-6, 6-3, 6-3, in the semi-finals to complete his set of triumphs over the top three, having claimed the scalp of Marat Safin in his previous tournament. Mantilla upset the ninth-seeded German Rainer Schuettler, 6-4, 1-6, 6-4 in the other semi-final.

In Washington, Andre Agassi missed his chance for a sixth Legg Mason Classic title when he lost 6-3, 6-4 to his fellow American James Blake in the semi-finals on Saturday. Blake was due to face Paradorn Srichaphan, of Thailand, in last night's final. Srichaphan, who knocked Agassi out of Wimbledon in the second round this year, defeated Marcelo Rios, of Chile, 3-6, 6-2, 6-2, in the other semi-final.

Hewitt, the holder of the US Open and Wimbledon titles, has launched an attack on the organisation of the men's tour by the Association of Tennis Professionals and threatened to cut down drastically on his playing schedule next season. Hewitt was furious at being fined almost £70,000 by the ATP for not doing a television interview at last week's Masters Series event in Cincinnati.

"Next year I couldn't give two hoots about number one," the Australian said. "Next year I'm going to try to peak for the majors, not go around to chase so many smaller tournaments and put up with some of the ATP requirements. I get less pleasure out of winning the tournaments on tour than I used to because of the way [the ATP] carry on."