Fernando Gonzalez used his home-court
advantage to defeat top seed Nicolas Lapentti of Ecuador 6-3 6-7 (5/7) 7-6
(7/4) and become the first Chilean to win the BellSouth Open.
A wild-card entrant, Gonzalez took the title in the year's first clay court
tournament and captured his second career ATP crown.
He won the 2000 US Men's Clay court Championships in Orlando.
Gonzalez, 21, built upon the confidence he gained at last month's Australian
Open.
The man from Santiago, who finished 135th in the 2001 ATP Champions Race,
reached the round of 16 at the year's first Grand Slam event.
Lapentti, 25, had rallied to victory in his first three matches at Vina del
Mar.
He fought back for a win over Flavio Saretta of Brazil on Friday.
He also lost the first set in his opening match against Jacobo Diaz and did so
again on Thursday against Ramon Delgado of Paraguay.
Lapentti failed to win his fifth career ATP title.
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