Fourth-seeded Frenchman Fabrice Santoro battles his compatriot, No. 5 seed Nicolas Mahut, in the final at Newport Sunday. Santoro is seeking the fifth title of his 19-year ATP career, while Mahut is hoping for his first.
The two haven’t met in ATP competition before. In the semifinals, Santoro beat Wesley Moodie, while Mahut defeated Dick Norman.
Santoro, 34, is playing in his first final since 2002 at Dubai, where he won his fourth title (d. El Aynaoui). He is 4-6 in finals. He played his first in 1990 at Toulouse (l. to Svensson). He is playing in Newport for the first time.
Mahut, 25, reached the first ATP final of his career last month at London-Queen’s Club (l. to Roddick). He has won 10 of his last 12 matches. He was 6-11 this year before that. Mahut has a career mark of 5-1 here.
In doubles Sunday, second seeds Jordan Kerr of Australia and Jim Thomas of the U.S. play Nathan Healey of Australia and Igor Kunitsyn of Russia in the final. Kerr and Thomas are teaming up together for the first time this year. They have a 29-21 career record. Healey and Kunitsyn are playing together for the first time. (ATP Digital Services)
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