FRENCH OPEN : Men: Bruguera defeats countryman Berasategui to win second consecutive title.

Alberto Berasategui had the crazy grip and feral forehand, but like so many others before him he did not have the stamina to withstand his friend Sergi Bruguera.

In the first all-Spanish Grand Slam tournament final, Bruguera, 23, turned a close match into a routine victory Sunday to win the men’s French Open title, 6-3, 7-5, 2-6, 6-1.

It happened with the flick of a wrist in the second set when No. 23 Berasategui took a 4-1 lead but was broken twice and lost, 7-5.

Berasategui, who hits his forehand with a backhand grip, could not find the lines that he so effectively hit in reaching the final without losing a set.

“I got too tired,” Berasategui said.

Bruguera tamed the game’s most feared forehand by running it into the ground with his inclination to turn clay court tennis into a marathon.

“To control the forehand of Alberto is impossible,” Bruguera said. “But you don’t have to be afraid of it. The others might have lost even before they played him. I know how to play him. I know his weaknesses.”

Thus, No. 6 Bruguera won his second consecutive French Open championship to become Spain’s first two-time French champion since Manuel Santana in 1961 and ’64.

In winning the first set after taking a 3-1 lead, Bruguera roamed the baseline trading groundstrokes with the hard-hitting Basque. The rallies were long. It was not unusual for them to exchange 26 strokes before an error.

That was fine with Bruguera, who can stay on the clay all day batting the ball. He lost only one set--to Jim Courier in the semifinals--as he advanced to Sunday’s championship.

Although Bruguera becomes the world’s best clay-court player with his convincing victory, he still has to prove himself as one of the sport’s greats.

Except for losing in the first round of the U.S. Open last August, Bruguera had not played in a Grand Slam tournament since winning the French Open last year by defeating Courier in five sets.

Some have suggested he isn’t a true star because of his lack of major tournament victories, but Bruguera has dismissed such criticism.

Agusti Pujol, president of the Spanish Tennis Federation, said the French Open is the most important Grand Slam tournament for his players because they grow up playing on clay.

“Concerned we are not,” he said of the criticism. “We don’t have to justify why Bruguera did not go to Wimbledon (last year).”

Bruguera will make an appearance on the lawn later this month, but he already is downplaying his chances.

Berasategui, however, will skip Wimbledon. But then, few thought he could advance so far in Paris. His coach, Javier Durate, tried to drum up publicity for the 20-year-old from Arrigorriaga by taking him around to newspaper and television reporters this spring.

“Now everybody talks about him,” Durate said. “I knew his moment would arrive.”

It did indeed, although he had to share it with Bruguera and all of Spain.

Notes

Bryon Black and Jonathan Stark won the men’s doubles title by defeating Sweden’s Jan Apell and Jonas Bjorkman. . . . Kristie Boogert and Menno Oosting of the Netherlands won the mixed doubles title.