American collegiate player turned coach Brad Huff won the inaugural Siem Reap Open tennis tournament on Sunday, beating Chanti Chan of Cambodia 6-2, 6-1 in the final at the Grand Soluxe Angkor Palace Resort and Spa.

On the way to the finals, Huff defeated Patrick Gourlay 8-1 while Chanti Chan recorded an identical win over Michele Cipriani.

Apart from representing the University of Tulsa, Huff was also a member of the Furman University team as a senior before he plunged into coaching. His major coaching achievement was a stint in 2009-10 with Chuck Kriese, the then head coach of Thailand.

Cambodia’s present national coach Braen Aneiros was also part of that team.

A resident of Siem Reap, Huff was the prime mover in organising this eight-player event which followed the Barclays ATP Tour finals format. Players were split into two groups, blue and red, with each playing the others in their respective groups over eight-game pro sets in the preliminary stage.

The top two from each group made it to the criss-cross semi-finals.

“We are grateful to the Grand Soluxe Angkor Palace Resort and Spa who provided courts, their staff and amenities during the five-day event,” Huff told the Post yesterday.

“We are also thankful for the logistical support from the Tennis Federation of Cambodia.”

TFC Secretary-General Tep Rithivit said it was “great to see tournaments popping up everywhere” in the Kingdom.

“I hope other major cities take this cue. I would like Huff to handle an orphanage, train a mini-tennis coach and launch the ITF’s Tennis 10s program in Siem Reap,” he added.

To contact the reporter on this story: H S Manjunath at [email protected]