KEY POINTS:
It might have taken nearly five hours in total but yesterday's final of the Heineken Open was over in a surprisingly quick 74 minutes.
World No 14 and the tournament's third seed, David Ferrer, beat his countryman and favourite Tommy Robredo 6-4 6-2 in a rain-interrupted final.
Predictions suggested it would be a long final as the two Spanish baseline sluggers went at it. While it was lengthy because of the repeated rain delays, Ferrer was largely untroubled in picking up his first ATP tournament win on hardcourt and his third career title.
It started on time soon after 1pm, but the first attempt lasted only three minutes. About an hour later, they tried again only to be thwarted during the warmup.
The third attempt lasted seven minutes before the two, with their patience surely being tested, trudged out onto court again at about 4.40pm wondering if they might make it to Melbourne before Monday. They certainly didn't make their scheduled flight at 7pm .
By the time the weather cleared once more, Robredo was on the back foot trailing 1-3. Although he won the next game with ease, he was feeling particularly delicate when he ran into the net chasing down a short Ferrer ball.
It clearly affected Robredo and the consequences of the impact became obvious later when he joked: "I don't know if I will have children now."
Ferrer didn't seem to be affected by this or have it on his conscience. In fact, Ferrer seemed less affected by the rain delays and played with greater consistency than the world No 7.
He also mixed up his approach, getting to the net more often than the sometimes tentative Robredo, who viewed the net as forbidden territory. Ferrer also chased every ball like an excitable terrier down on Mission Bay.
Robredo levelled at 4-4 in the first set but he was broken straight away and Ferrer served out to win the first set 6-4, condemning Robredo to only the second set he had lost all week.
The sun emerged for the start of the second set but dark clouds hung over Robredo as Ferrer raced out to a 5-1 lead. When Ferrer watched Robredo's forehand sail over the line on match point, he fell to the ground in celebration. Robredo threw his racket to the ground in frustration and disappointment.
"It's not always possible to win and today David did the job better than me and deserved the title," Robredo confessed afterwards. It was easy to agree.
"This tournament is a special one for me," Ferrer beamed. "It's my first one on hardcourt and it's over Tommy, who is my friend.
"This week I play well but this match I play my best tennis of the week. At 4-4 [in the first set] Tommy had a chance and maybe this [could have] changed the match. But I played very regular the whole match."
Ferrer has played very regularly the whole tournament. Three of his four matches leading into the final went to three sets and it probably gave him an edge over a player who was rarely troubled on his way to the final.
Ferrer's fighting ability is his major weapon, not to mention a solid double-handed backhand that was perhaps a little better suited to the windy conditions in Auckland this week than Robredo's single-handed version.
"My game is run all the time," Ferrer said in his staccato English. "I win points with my save. I am a Spanish player [who grew up on clay] and for me the physical is very important. I need to run every point.
"Now I have confidence, but this is now finished and I want to play again to win [at the Australian Open]."
Ferrer put aside his friendship on the court yesterday but the pair were due to 'celebrate' Ferrer's win with a quiet dinner last night before catching an early-morning flight to Melbourne.
The doubles finalists were not so lucky as rain set in once again to have the final say. Ferrer was the champion but the weather reigns supreme.
