Ferrero fuels belief for French Open

For the second year in a row, Juan Carlos Ferrero took a confident stride towards the French Open by winning the Masters Series tournament here yesterday. The Spaniard's supporters trust that his quest will not end in anticlimax in Paris, as it did last June when he was beaten in the final by his compatriot Albert Costa.

The 23-year-old Ferrero, who followed up last year's triumph here against his fellow countryman Carlos Moya by outplaying Guillermo Coria, of Argentina, 6-2, 6-2, recalled that he went into the Paris final on anaesthetics and a prayer, hoping that his body would hold up. He lost in four sets. "The key," he said, "was that Albert was playing so good."

Having decided to follow a similar route to Roland Garros, with a busy schedule of tournaments in Barcelona, Valencia, Rome and Hamburg, Ferrero, the world No 3, said: "I feel better physically this year. I believe I will come to the French Open with more experience, and I believe this year I can win."

Yesterday's final was reduced to the best of three sets because of a threat that it would be washed out by rain. In the event, the match was only delayed by one hour, and Ferrero finished the job after 75 minutes.

The unseeded Coria's ranking will rise to No 16 today after a run to the final that must have made his first-round loss to Britain's Tim Henman here last year seem like a bad dream. The 21-year-old Argentinian drained the second- seeded Moya of momentum in winning their semi-final on Saturday, 7-6, 6-2, but he was unable to deter Ferrero, a player he resembles in style.

Ferrero was keen for a quick victory in case the clouds broke again, and he led 3-0 in both sets. The difference in the second set was that although Coria again recovered a break for 1-3, he immediately lost his serve. Ferrero's only problem after that came when he faced a break point at 30-40 when serving for the match at 5-2. A potent serve and a forehand drive took care of that.

Having dropped the opening set in consecutive matches, in the second round against his compatriot Felix Mantilla, and in the third round against Gaston Gaudio, of Argentina, Ferrero said his mental strength enabled him to "start playing a normal level of tennis".

Coria's home is in Venado Tuerto, which, he explained, means "an animal with horns who can see only with one eye". Having served a seven-month ban after testing positive for nandrolone in 2001, Coria finds it hard to live the past down. "It was proved that the vitamins [I took] were contaminated," he said. "I didn't do it on purpose, but nobody believes me.

"I don't feel guilty, but the general state of mind of people is to be suspicious. When they see you're playing well they think you must be drugged or something, which is not true. They don't take into account all the hard work you've been doing to reach that level."