Corretja Masters Indian Wells

Alex Corretja has got his game back after virtually disappearing from the world tennis scene in 1999.

Corretja, who failed to win a title last year and dropped from No. 3 to No. 26 internationally, took a methodical 6-4, 6-4, 6-3 victory Sunday over Thomas Enqvist in the Tennis Masters-Indian Wells championship match.

"It's huge," he said of his first win since November 1998. "It's really big for me, not especially to come back at the top, just to come back with my game, my style, my life on the court."

"That's the most important thing. The best thing for me is realizing that I can be a good player again."

The 25-year-old native of Barcelona was weakened last year by what doctors originally thought was mononucleosis, but may have simply been fatigue. He made it to three finals in 1999, but lost all three, and took time off late in the year to recuperate.

Going into the week, Corretja was 53rd in the ATP points race, but jumped to No. 6 with his performance at Indian Wells. He is now 12-3 overall in matches this year.

During a week at Indian Wells where favorites such as top seed Andre Agassi and No. 2 Pete Sampras fell by the wayside, the unseeded Corretja was steady if unspectacular against No. 10 Enqvist.

Corretja actually hit fewer winners, 15 to Enqvist's 23, but committed just 13 unforced errors to 51 by the Swede. The match ended on Enqvist's seventh double-fault; Corretja had one.

Enqvist said afterward that muscle tightness in his left leg made it difficult to serve and move around the court.

"I couldn't really put weight into my serve," he said. "I probably did something with my left leg yesterday. It felt fine last night, but when I woke up, I didn't really feel like I could push off on it. I don't know what it is. I thought it felt more like tiredness."

Enqvist, like Corretja appearing in his first Indian Wells championship match after five previous appearances in the desert tournament, hit some excellent groundstrokes in the final, but killed his chances by spraying shots into the net or out.

Enqvist, 26, moved up to No. 7 in the points race with his appearance in the final.

Corretja, the first Spaniard to win the tournament since Jose Higueras in 1983, earned $400,000. Enqvist received $211,000.

Agassi lost to Hicham Arazi in the opening round, and Enqvist eliminated Sampras in the quarterfinals.

Lindsay Davenport, No. 2 in the world behind Martina Hingis, beat Hingis for the fifth consecutive time, 4-6, 6-4, 6-0 for the women's title on Saturday. Davenport also teamed with Corina Morariu to take the doubles championship with a 6-2, 6-3 victory over Anna Kournikova and Natasha Zvereva.

Davenport earned $200,000 for winning the singles, $31,000 as her share of the doubles title.

Alex O'Brien and Jared Palmer won the men's doubles, downing Sandon Stolle and Paul Haarhuis 6-4, 7-6 (5).

The final day's attendance at the new Indian Wells Tennis Garden was 12,318, up from 11,500 at the Grand Champions Stadium last year. Total attendance for the tournament this year was 186,690, up from 148,988.

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