It was death by a thousand cuts or, to put it another way, victory by a thousand errors.

If it was inspiration you were looking for, Tokyo's Ariake Colosseum was not the place to be on Sunday morning as Julie Halard-Decugis backed over Amy Frazier 5-7, 7-5, 6-4 to win the Japan Open women's singles title in a mind-numbing 2 hours and 30 minutes of tennis.

In contrast, the men's final later Sunday provided a sparkling example of inspired tennis as Dutchman Sjeng Schalken outdueled the hunk from Ecuador, Nicolas Lapentti, 6-4, 3-6, 6-1.

In the women's final, the only thing to warm the spectators up on a cool, overcast day was the smoke from the nearby fire drills that turned the air gray and sent spectators coughing toward the bathrooms. And that's where the women's final belonged.

Frazier, a two-time champion and now a four-time runnerup in this minor WTA event, contributed to her loss with an astonishing 19 double-faults, but she still managed to take the opening set after breaking Halard-Decugis three times.

The American did at least have her return of serve working, although it was hardly necessary as Halard-Decugis, the runnerup to Serena Williams in last week's Toyota Princess Cup on the same court, rarely delivered a decent first serve. In fact, Halard-Decugis delivered very little in the first half of the match. The world's No. 1 doubles player clearly didn't have her act together.

That the two protagonists are ranked 18th (Halard-Decugis) and 20th in the world is a poor indictment of women's tennis, although, to be fair, both can play much better.

It took Halard-Decugis well over an hour to deliver anything like a decent game as she dropped her serve twice in the second set to fall behind 5-3. But in the ninth game of the second set, the Frenchwoman woke up as she fought to stay in the match. The top seed dug deep to stave off three match points and three double-faults, finally surviving seven deuces to stay alive.

Frazier, 28, who has choked here in the past, promptly handed Halard-Decugis the next three games to send the match into a deciding set, to the horror of those journalists trying to stay awake in the press box.

The top seed coughed up another couple of double-faults -- her seventh and eighth and her last of the match -- to hand Frazier the baton in the first game of the third set. But the American was matching the Frenchwoman error-for-error and generously handed over three double-faults to allow her 30-year-old opponent back into the game.

Elements of tennis crept into the match as it headed for its "climax," with Halard-Decugis finally remembering she could actually play the game. Frazier's final double-fault and a sloppy forehand into the net handed Halard-Decugis two match points. She missed out on the first but then fired a flat forehand to her right that Frazier couldn't return and the boreathon was, mercifully, over.

"It was a great match for me today," the victor proclaimed afterward. "It was very tight and I was pretty lucky in the second set to save those match points, but I'm very happy."

Schalken, ranked 51st in the world going into this tournament, and world No. 16 Lapentti, showed their class from the start.

Schalken's supreme backhand was complemented by a big serve and some fearsome returns as he broke his Ecuadorean friend and opponent twice to take the first set.

Lapentti rode his stinging top-spin forehand to even the sets at one apiece, but then lost his way and all his service games in the final set, handing Schalken the title and the $115,000 first prize.

"In the first set, we played at an unbelievable level," Schalken noted afterward. "I thought that if we were going to continue at that level, I would lose my first-ever final.

"I had to have everything working today. My forehand was working well and you really need to have a good forehand against Nicolas because he also has a big forehand. It was just a question of who got on top first.

"This is biggest title I've ever won and it shows I'm improving," added the 24-year-old Dutchman, who should be able to leap to around No. 36 in the world this week, his highest ranking ever.

Lapentti, who may move up a slot from 16, admitted his game was slightly off. "My serve wasn't as good as in previous matches and that put pressure on me," he said. "And Sjeng played a great match. It was his day and he deserved to win."

The 24-year-old from Guayaquil did, however, get one monkey off his back. After superstitiously eating chicken and rice every day this week, the loss meant he could finally change his diet.

"I'm going to McDonald's to have a Big Mac and french fries and a cinnamon roll with icing on top," he admitted.

In the men's doubles final, unseeded Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes of India defeated the fifth-seeded pair of Australian Michael Hill and American Jeff Tarango 6-4, 6-7 (1-7), 6-3.