With perhaps the best all-around game in the area, Carl Clark doesn't need any additional advantages when he takes the court.

But the co-No. 1 seed in the men's singles draw of the Davenport City Tennis Championships may have gotten one anyway when yesterday's final was shifted from Byrd Park to the indoor facility at the Country Club of Virginia because of rain.

Clark is the head pro at CCV and, looking comfortable at his home club, produced what he said was his best tennis of the weeklong tournament in handling Sean Steinour 6-3, 6-4 and taking home the first Einwick Cup.

"It [playing at CCV] is nice," Clark said after claiming his second city crown. "That certainly helps, but I know Sean loves these courts, too. We're probably both glad to get out of the wind. Makes for prettier tennis, that's for sure."

Steinour, who was also co-seeded No. 1, would have preferred Byrd Park, given the choice of venues.

"If I had to pick, I'd probably rather have played at Byrd Park," said Steinour, director of racket sports at Westwood Club. "With the wind and the elements, it maybe takes the serve out a little bit. If a guy's serving well, it's [indoor] going to be to his advantage. I'd give him a little notch, as far as that's concerned. Next year, we'll have to play it at Westwood."

The way Clark was pounding winners from the baseline and scoring off approach shots, it likely wouldn't have made much difference where the match was played. The 41-year-old faced only two break points on his serve -- both in the seventh game of the first set -- in capturing his first title since 1999.

"Carl played very solid," said Steinour, 37, playing in his 12th final in the past 13 years. "Kind of what I expected. Mixed it up. Slice and dice a little bit. Hit some moonballs. Anything to get me out of my rhythm. I think he'd rather do that than charge the net a couple times or just pound groundstrokes all day, which I'd rather do.

"I played the best tennis today that I did all week. My serve, even though it was better than it was all week, still wasn't as sharp as it needed to be for me to beat him."

Clark broke Steinour's serve in the second game of the match and again in the fifth game of the second set. That was all he needed to wrap up their hour-and-a-half showdown.

"We've had some great battles over the years," said Clark, who beat Steinour in the '99 final. "It's been fun playing him.

"I just wanted to mix it up. Keep him off balance. Mix up the height and depth of my shots. Not let him get me going side to side. Not let him wear me out. I don't think I had my best day serving but my second serve did pretty well. I felt like I moved well and made him earn every point."

In the men's doubles final, Clark teamed with Tom Cain to make it a daily double by defeating the second-seeded duo of Ed Butterworth and John Snead 6-3, 1-6, 6-4. In the mixed doubles showdown, the No. 2 team of Leslie and Ed Butterworth beat the top-seeded tandem of Bridget and Kevin Reichert 7-6 (7-4), 7-5.

The junior portion of the tournament begins Saturday, and the deadline for entries is today at midnight. To register online, go to www.usta.com and click on TennisLink/tournaments. The tourney ID number is 302962208.
Contact John Packett at (804) 649-6313 or jpackett@timesdispatch.com.