Morocco's El Aynaoui Beat at Finals of Lyon Tennis Tournament

Morocco's Younes El Aynaoui missed on Sunday the ATP title at the $800,000 Lyon Grand Prix when he was beat by Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia 6-3, 6-2.

Ljubicic won in 59 minutes, completing a week in which he defeated top-seeded Gustavo Kuerten and Marat Safin en route to the first final of his career.

Ranked 40th on the ATP standing, El Aynaoui won 7 ranks to climb to the 33th.

El Aynaoui reached the semifinals after he beat in the 3rd round Second-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain in two sets and Ecuador's Nicolas Lapenti.

Another Moroccan, Hicham Arazi, was ousted at the 2nd round by Max Mirnyi of Byelorussia.