Santoro wins Newport grasscourt crown

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Fabrice Santoro successfully defended his title at the ATP Hall of Fame Championship, easily beating India's Prakash Amritraj 6-3, 7-5 in Sunday's final. (AFP)

France's Fabrice Santoro successfully defended his title at the ATP Hall of Fame Championship, easily beating India's Prakash Amritraj 6-3, 7-5 in Sunday's final.

The 35-year-old second seed cruised to victory in just one hour, 14 minutes in the 385,000 dollar grasscourt event.

Santoro is ranked 57th and had not won an ATP title since beating compatriot Nicolas Mahut in last year's Newport final. He earned 64,000 dollars for the win.

"I lost my serve three times this week, and every time I broke back," Santoro said. "It is important to react quickly and not get down."

Amritraj was trying to end a 10-year ATP singles title drought for Indian players.

"He did not serve with much pace and these courts are soft," Amritraj said. "The ball stays very low and it made it hard to return."

"He is annoying. You play the point, you think it is over, and then you see the ball coming back."

The veteran Santoro became the eighth oldest champion on the ATP Tour since 1980 and picked up his sixth career title and first since 2005 by beating the wild card Amritraj, who was competing in his first final.

Only three players have been older champions than Santoro on the ATP Tour, including Jimmy Connors, who won four titles at a more advanced age than the Frenchman.

Along with his age, Santoro became just the third champion to successfully defend his title here, joining Bryan Shelton (1991-92) and Greg Rusedski (2004-05).

"That is a good point, to be old. You are very calm, even when you are nervous," Santoro said. "I am very lucky. It is not only luck ... I think I show the same passion and energy that I did five, 10, 15 years ago, maybe more."

He is also the first second seed to finish on top of this grasscourt tournament since Johan Kriek in 1981.

On Saturday, Santoro collected his 450th career win by topping American Vincent Spadea in the semi-finals.

Only Roger Federer (594), Carlos Moya (557) and Lleyton Hewitt (485) have amassed more wins.

Ranked a lowly 305th in the world, Amritraj had his shocking journey finish a win short of a championship. The 24-year-old upset No. 7 Frank Dancevic of Canada in the semi-finals on Saturday.

"This was a great stepping stone for me," Amritraj said.

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