THE Gotelee & Goldsmith East of England International Tennis Championship ended with a distinctly European flavour yesterday with Dutch and Portuguese players claiming the respective singles titles.

Stuart Watson

THE Gotelee & Goldsmith East of England International Tennis Championship ended with a distinctly European flavour yesterday with Dutch and Portuguese players claiming the respective singles titles.

The men's final was one of the best Felixstowe Lawn Tennis Club has witnessed in recent years, Dutch No.8 seed Michel Koning beating Australian No.4 seed Brydan Klein in an extremely tense encounter.

The 24-year-old Dutchman, who went into the tournament ranked 514 in the world, was second best for much of the match but he clung on to force two tie-breaks, both of which he won through a mixture of grit and guile.

It was tough luck on world No.385 Klein whose passion, power and willingness to get into the net had won over the 200-strong crowd early on.

Having missed two break points at 5-5 in the first set, Klein looked to have won the tie-break with two breathtaking passing shots down the line. However, after missing an easy point at the net, Klein crumbled and Koning methodically went about claiming the set having never looked like breaking his opponent throughout.

Klein continued to play aggressively in the second set and was rewarded with a break of serve to go 4-2 up, however Koning, whose accurate lob had proved a big weapon throughout, broke back straight away by winning an epic game.

The temperamental Klein then seemed to lose his head, Koning winning the next two games to go 5-4 up and serve for the championship. However, for the first time Koning choked and the match once again headed for another dramatic tie-break.

The Dutch calm soon returned and, after racing 4-0 ahead in the breaker, Koning held on to claim the title.

There was some consolation for Klein however, he re-emerged to claim the men's doubles title with fellow countryman Matthew Ebden in straight sets over America's Shane la Porte and Australia's Sadik Kadir.

The women's singles title was won by Portugal's Neuza Silva, the No.2 seed going one stage further than last year to beat Great Britain's Sarah Borwell with a relatively comfortable 6-3, 6-2 scoreline.

As in the men's final, the runner-up gained some consolation with victory in the doubles, Borwell having joined forces with America's Courtney Nagle earlier in the day to beat Great Britain's Anna Hawkins and Czech Republic's Nikola Frankova.

Results round-up

Men's Singles

Quarter-Finals: B Klein bt G Jones 7-6, 603.

Semi-Finals: B Klein bt N Bamford 6-4, 6-3, M Koning bt A Feeney 6-4, 7-6.

Final: M Koning bt B Klein 7-6, 7-6.

Women's Singles

Semi-Finals: N Frankova bt S Borwell 6-4, 6-3, N. Silva bt T Moore 6-0, 7-6.

Final: N Silva bt S Borwell 6-2, 6-3.

Men's Doubles

Quarter-Finals: Bamford/Goodall bt Eichenberger/Iannuzzi 6-3, 6-4, Ebden/Klein bt Bayet/Fitzpatrick 6-1, 6-3, Kadir/La Porte bt Mankad/Singh 6-4, 6-4, Corrie/Wire bt Raja/Sharan 7-6, 6-2.

Semi-Finals: Ebden/Klein bt Bamford/Goodall w/o, Kadir/La Porte bt Corrie/Wire 4-6, 7-5, 10-8.

Final: Ebden/Klein bt Kadir/La Porte 6-4, 7-6.

Women's Doubles

Round One: Hofmanova/Pajalic bt Draeger/Kramperova 6-1, 6-3.

Quarter-Finals: Borwell/Nagle bt Hofmanova/Pajalic 6-2, 6-2, Curtis/Thomas bt Richards/Ricketts 6-2, 7-5, Ozgen/Silva bt Calderwood/Chernyakova 6-3, 6-1, Frankova/Hawkins bt Khan/Windley 6-3, 6-4.

Semi-Finals: Borweel/Nagle bt Curtis/Thomas 6-3, 7-6, Frankova/Hawkins bt Ozgen/Silva 6-2, 6-2.

Final: Borwell/Nagle bt Frankova/ Hawkins 7-5, 6-3.