Costa, the 1996 champion at this ritzy Alpine village, scored his 7-6 (7-4) 6-3 6-4 victory in two hours, 11 minutes against the unseeded 22-year-old from Ecuador.

The victory was the eighth out of nine editions here for Spanish contenders. Only Russian Yevgeny Kafelnikov (1995) spoiled a winning string which began in 1991 with Spaniard Emilio Sanchez.

Costa's victory brought him his second title of 1999 and improved his clay court record for the year to 23 wins, 11 defeats.

Lapentti, whose only career trophy came at Bogota in 1995, is now 1-3 in career finals.

Costa will now move back into a top 25 ranking as a result of his victory in cloudy conditions at 1,050 metres above sea level on the clay.

Costa was down a break in the first set, but got it back and moved into early commandthrough victory in the opening-set tiebreaker.

Costa seemed inspired after sweeping the opener. His big, pounding forehand made a crucial difference as he allowed Lapentti few further chances in the contest.

Lapentti may have been feeling the effects of a long semifinal win yesterday against Spain's fifth seed Felix Mantilla, like Costa a former champion here.