Ellis Ferreira, Rick Leach win ATP Cup

Bangalore:

Ellis Ferreira (South Africa) and Rick Leach (USA) lifted the ATP World Doubles Challenge Cup defeating the giant killers Petr Pala and Pavel Vizner (both Czech Republic) in the final here tonight. Ferreira and Leach, seeded number six, came from behind to beat the fourth-seeded Czech pair 6-7 (6-8), 7-6 (7-2), 6-4, 6-4 in a three hour, four minute-duel at the Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association Courts. The winning pair took home USD 1,45,000, including $72,000 for their title round victory. The Czech pair has collected $73,000. It was not the day of the Czech pair after their dream run in the Championship that saw them ousting the Indian duo of Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes, as well as top seeded Don Johnson and Jared Palmer (US). After losing the first set, Ferreira and Leach clawed their way back into the match, raising their level of game notches higher. In fact, they bagged the last two sets without much difficulty. (PTI)