INQUIRER Sports

MEMPHIS, Tennessee -- Belgian Steve Darcis defeated eighth-seeded Swede Robin Soderling in straight sets here Sunday to claim the second ATP title of his career.

Darcis, ranked 81st in the world, beat Soderling 6-3, 7-6 (7/5) to win the men's title at this 944,000-dollar ATP-WTA hardcourt tournament -- and cement his status as perhaps the most efficient player in ATP history when it comes to making match-wins count.

Darcis, 23, has won just 13 matches total on the ATP circuit, against nine defeats, but now owns two titles. The first came last year at Amersfoort, where he won as a qualifier.

Going into that claycourt tournament, he was ranked 297th in the world and had never won an ATP match.

Since then he had receded again into anonymity, posting three more match victories, two of which came this year.

"It's tough for me to speak right now," Darcis said. "I feel great. It's the second victory for me in two finals. It's unbelievable. I don't know how to explain it. ... Maybe if you ask me the same question tomorrow, I might answer better. It's just amazing the way I feel right now. Really tough for me to explain."

Darcis was perfectly placed in Memphis to benefit from the injury withdrawal of second-seeded American James Blake, and the second-round departure of third-seeded German Tommy Haas.

He made the most of his opportunity, beating seventh-seeded Austrian Jurgen Melzer in the second round, then downing Benjamin Becker and Swedish veteran Jonas Bjorkman to reach the final.

He fired 13 aces past Soderling, who was playing in his second final in as many weeks, and became the first player to break the Swede's serve this week.

Soderling's victims in an impressive run here included top-seeded American Andy Roddick in the quarterfinals and fourth-seeded Czech Radek Stepanek in the semis.

"He played really well," Soderling said. "He didn't miss much on his serve, much better than I expected him to do. It's a shame that I played my worst match in the final two weeks in a row now.

"I think I played some really good tennis this week. I didn't play bad today either, but I played a lot better in my other matches. Maybe he made me play bad. He played really good."

The upset by an unheralded opponent echoed Soderling's loss last week in the final at Rotterdam, where he was beaten by Frenchman Michael Llodra.