RICHMOND, Va. -- The strategy Guillermo Vilas used to down Steve Denton 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 in the finals of the Richmond Tennis Classic read more like a recipe than tennis -- chop, slice, cut against the grain.
Vilas took home $100,000 Sunday after he butchered sixth-seeded Denton. The wily Argentine, seeded second, broke Denton's serve in the final game of every set to post the victory.
The last time the two met, they played for more than 4 hours. But Vilas did his work in just over two hours Sunday as he worked over Denton like a food processor.
His shots, usually to Denton's backhand, were cut and sliced and carried all kinds of spins. Denton was forced into repeated errors.
When Denton tried rushing the net to avoid getting cut into mincemeat on the baseline, he got to the net in time to watch Vilas' shots pass by.
The best example came in the final game of the second set. Vilas hadn't even come close to breaking Denton's serve but was leading, 6-5.
In that game, Denton, known for his booming first serve, put every one in. He played some great volleys but it didn't matter. Vilas was cooking and easily broke his serve.
'He played an unbelievable game at 6-5 in the second set,' Denton said. 'He hadn't even come close to breaking serve then all of a sudden it clicked. It's about as fine as I've seen him in play on an indoor surface.'
Vilas said his strategy was to keep his opponent moving.
'He hits pretty hard,' said Vilas, ranked fourth in the world. 'You don't want him to stand still. When he's moving, there's a bigger chance he'll make an error.'
Vilas said he was serving better than he had all week. It showed. Denton was never able to break Vilas' serve and in the first 11 games Vilas served, Denton managed only 12 points.
'I didn't play well on his serve,' Denton said. 'I returned the worst I had all week. He starts concentrating on you, pressing you, because he knows he has it when he is serving.'
Vilas wrote his recipe for victory early. With his serves down, he started scoring many points off wicked backhand passing shots. He broke Denton's serve in the seventh and ninth games to take the first set, 6-3.
In the second, both men held serve until Vilas broke Denton in the 12th game to take the set, 7-5. By the third set, he could sense the victory.
Both men held serve until 5-4 and Vilas started with passing shots. He then broke Denton in the 10th game to take the match.
The tournament was sponsored by United Virginia Bank.
Vilas defeated Brazilian Cassio Motta, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, in fthe irst round.In the second, he downed Californian Lloyd Bourne, 6-3, 6-2. Vilas defeated Brian Teacher in the quarterfinals Friday.
