Spain's Moya stuns Hewitt in rain-affected final

Eleanor Preston, Reuters, Cincinnati, Ohio

Carlos Moya managed to overcome a rain delay and Lleyton Hewitt on Sunday to clinch the Cincinnati Masters title with a 7-5 7-6 win in a classic baseline battle.

The victory was only the second hard court title for 25-year- old Moya, and his first on the surface in a Masters Series event.

The Spaniard has now won four titles this year, and eleven in his career, including the 1998 French Open and the 1998 Masters Series in Monte Carlo.

Moya also becomes the first Spaniard ever to win in Cincinnati and did so without dropping a set.

Hewitt made the early running in the first set, moving to a 3- 1 lead over the top seed before being broken back for 3-3 under rapidly darkening skies.

The heavens opened at 4-4 after just 34 minutes of play and when it resumed two and a quarter hours later, Hewitt's serve faltered again at 5-6 under the weight of Moya's destructive forehand.

World number one Hewitt took firm control of the second set, racing to a 5-2 lead only for Moya to claw his way back with the aid of some indifferent serving from the Australian and some sustained aggression of his own.

It was that aggression which helped him save set points at 3-5 down.

In an edgy tiebreaker, the pair exchange mini breaks three times before a Hewitt double fault gave Moya a match point, which he took with a booming serve.

Moya, seeded 16th here, has been on a hot streak since the start of the season and has now won 20 of his last 22 matches.

Cincinnati marks his biggest pay day of the year so far though, earning him $392,000 in prize money.

"I'd like to congratulate Carlos," Hewitt said.

"He played some great tennis, not just this week but for the last five or six weeks. He was too good for me today."

There was more bad news for Hewitt.

His performance this week has earned him $206,000 but after a fracas with the ATP earlier in the week over his refusal to do a TV interview on Monday, Hewitt could be fined as much as half of prize money, so his week's work could cost him $103,000.

Moya's win was also the first final Hewitt has lost since Masters Series Stuttgart in November 2000, when he was runner-up to Wayne Ferreira.

Since losing to the South African, Hewitt had won ten consecutive finals until he ran into Moya.

Moya was world number one for two weeks in 1999 after he reached his only previous Masters Series hard court final in Indian Wells.

Since then he has had to overcome long term back and shoulder problem.

The Cincinnati title is his most prestigious win since battling back from injury.