MUMBAI, Jan 2: Anthony Dupuis ended his Indian winter today at the GA Ranade Tennis Centre with another title, his second in two weeks, in the $ 50,000 ATP Challenger tennis tournament.Dupuis gathered 120 ATP points, including 60 last week, earned $ 7200 in two weeks and did just about everything right this fortnight. The two-week effort saw him climb about 63 slots on the ATP computer to be around 145.His bout with Julien Boutter was not as tight as anticipated, with the rivals tired in the unusually piercing January heat. Dupuis won 7-5, 7-6 (7-1) in the one hour, 45-minute humdrum.Later, Mahesh Bhupathi and Gaurav Natekar fell to the Israeli pair of Eyal Ran and Noam Behr 2-6, 6-7 (5-7) in 68 minutes amid a partisan few. The Israelis, cheered on by a lone country-mate, held nerve while the Indians threatened a revival, pulling back from 1-4 down to 5-5 in the tie-breaker.Left-handed Behr starred in the tie-breaker, with a forehand crosscourt, a courageous lob and a thunderous return ofNatekar's serve that would have tattooed the Maharashtra State Lawn Tennis Association's newly-laid Deco-turf surface.Natekar, who was broken in three of his five service games, hit a forehand long and then netted a backhand volley to the disappointment of the lusty gathering.The Indians were perched on a comfortable one-break 4-1 lead when things went wrong. Down 0-40 on Natekar's serve, the duo pulled back to deuce. But a backhand return by the bearded Ran and then a smash by Behr got them the much needed break. Things proceeded to the tie-breaker where Behr took control.DUPUIS DOUBLE: Following his Challenger title in Ahmedabad and here, Dupuis will get a boost ahead of the Australian Open qualifiers, which he hopes to clear. He has lost only one of the 15 matches he has played in India and made three finals, winning one.The temperamental Boutter gave a few French lessons to the spectators - words that are unlikely to be taught at the Alliance Francaise. The Frenchman lost some of his hair onFriday - when he had his hair cut - and his head on Saturday, yelled, swore and exhibited the kind of soccer skills which Dupuis' favourite football player, Zinedine `Zizu' Zidane, would have been proud of.But Dupuis played that kicked ball back and most of the other shots which Boutter tried, including a ``first time in life'' drop shot. But the fatigue showed and Dupuis said he would have had problems if the match had gone into a third set.The 24-year-old Boutter, ranked No 15 to Dupuis' 12 in France, dropped three break-points at 4-3 in the first set, had his quota of double-faults (6) and lost serve in the 11th. The set subsequently slipped out.After trading breaks in the second set, the match went into a tie-breaker. Boutter started badly, netting a backhand and then serving a double fault. The piece de resistance was a Dupuis backhand crosscourt at 3-1, so good that the third seed seemed almost embarrassed. That broke his ``friend'' Boutter's back and the 7-1 tie-break result was then a mereformality.Results (all finals)Men's singles: Anthony Dupuis (France, 206) bt Julien Boutter (France, 279) 7-5, 7-6 (7-1)Doubles: Noam Behr/ Eyal Ran (Israel) bt Mahesh Bhupathi/ Gaurav Natekar (India) 6-2, 7-6 (7-5)
