KEY POINTS:
It's not clear if he played the role of Alien or Predator but Philipp Kohlschreiber credited the action movie as his secret weapon in claiming his second title 7-6 (7-4) 7-5 in yesterday's Heineken Open final.
The 24-year-old German was a regular movie viewer last week, watching Will Smith's I Am Legend before his semifinal win over third seed Juan Monaco and then Alien vs Predator before his impressive straight-sets win over Juan Carlos Ferrero yesterday.
He moved as swiftly as the Predator yesterday and his single-handed backhand, which has been compared to Roger Federer's, was as deadly as the Alien.
That was the secret, he said of his diet of action movies. "[On Friday] I watched Alien vs Predator. There was a lot of action and there was a lot of action today in the final."
It was undoubtedly one of the best finals in recent memory. Both players battled away in the Auckland heat and Ferrero's appetite for a fight was understandable considering he won the last of his 11 finals back in 2003.
The former world No 1 has lost eight finals, including yesterday, since then and as he slumped in his chair at the end of the match it was clear how much another defeat hurt.
"I keep trying," the Spaniard said of his desire to finally collect another title. "I think I played good tennis the whole week and today I didn't win."
He kept battling for all one hour and 55 minutes.
Ferrero was forced to scramble in the opening exchanges as Kohlschreiber fired down a handful of deadly backhands. The purity and crispness of the shot was a reminder of a foregone era and is, disappointingly, a rarity in today's world of metronomic double-handed backhands.
It was difficult for Ferrero to predict whether his opponent was going cross-court or down the line and it was well backed up by an at-times ferocious forehand.
"He was playing so fast all the time, with his backhand," Ferrero said.
"I couldn't take one second to play a good shot."
Slowly Ferrero found his range but couldn't secure the crucial breakthrough to wrestle control of the match. His frustration was obvious at times, smacking a ball into the net in anger, and he was clearly not impressed with a handful of close calls that went against him.
Serving at 3-2 up in the first-set tiebreaker, Fererro thought he had served an ace only for the umpire to call a let. He lost the point and then handed Kohlschreiber the initiative after hitting an easy forehand long in the next point.
"Today the match was very close and it was decided by three or four points," said Ferrero, who was clearly the crowd favourite.
"The first set was very important to win because the match was very close and the winner would get a lot of confidence to win the match."
As the second set began, thoughts of the pair's 6.50pm flight to Melbourne surfaced.
"Sometimes I was thinking I should play faster," Kohlschreiber joked about wanting to make the flight to the Australian Open, which starts on Monday, in good time.
The points were certainly shorter in the second set than the first but both refused to yield as the set progressed to a tense finish.
Kohlschreiber crucially broke Ferrero's serve at 5-5 in the second set but suffered a case of the jitters as he served two double faults.
"I was thinking, 'stupid, s**t, relax, be cool'," the world No 32 said. "Then the next point was very important. [It was a] long rally, tough shots and then he hit the frame [and the ball sailed out]. After that I knew it was a chance to take it."
He didn't need a second invitation and as Ferrero's forehand return sailed over the baseline he let out a yelp.
Yesterday's win was Kohlschreiber's second career title and will help him move into the world's top 20 by the end of 2008. Ferrero, too, still has the ability to move into the top 20 and beyond, but at 27 years old it is titles he wants to collect to go with his tag as a former world No 1.
Yesterday he had a chance but he ran into an Alien, or a Predator.
* The doubles was also an exciting encounter, with Juan Monaco and Luis Horna beating Xavier Malisse and Jurgen Melzer 6-4 3-6 10-7.
