Tennis News
The Official Tennis Newswire



PBZ Zagreb Indoors Saturday Tennis Results
   

Tennis News Links
tennispro.com blog daily teaching tips by Scott Perlstein

Collector Tennis Ball Cans

Hard to Find Racquets

Free Breaking Tennis News

Daily Tennis $37 - 3 months

Advertise on TennisNews.com

 
 
PBZ ZAGREB INDOORS
$370,000 ATP International Series Tournament
Zagreb, Croatia
February 25 - March 2, 2008
Surface: Indoor (Hard)
(+1 hour GMT)

 

RESULTS - SATURDAY,  MARCH 1, 2008

 

Singles - Final  

[LL] S Stakhovsky (UKR) d [1] I Ljubicic (CRO) 75 64
 

Doubles Final
[1] P Hanley (AUS) / J Kerr (AUS) d [2] C Kas (GER) / R Wassen (NED) 63 36 10-8
 

 

 

SINGLES FINAL -- LUCKY LOSER STAKHOVSKY CLAIMS FIRST ATP TITLE OVER LJUBICIC 

  • Lucky loser Sergiy Stakhovsky, a 22-year-old from Ukraine, playing in his first career ATP singles final, defeated top seed and local favorite Ivan Ljubicic 7-5, 6-4 to win the PBZ Zagreb Indoors. 
  • Stakhovsky, who came in ranked No. 209 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings, is the first lucky loser to win an ATP title since Argentine Christian Miniussi at Sao Paulo on Nov. 10, 1991 and the first player from Ukraine to win an ATP title since Andrei Medvedev won ATP Masters Series Hamburg in May 1997. 
  • In the final, Stakhovsky broke in the 11th game of the opening set and ninth game of the second set before serving out both sets. He converted two of five break points while saving the one break point he faced.
     
  • After losing in the last round of qualifying to Blaz Kavcic of Slovenia, Stakhovsky gained entry into the main draw when Michael Llodra withdrew. He defeated three seedsIn the first round, Stakhovsky defeated No. 2 seed Ivo Karlovic, then No. 8 Janko Tipsarevic in the quarterfinals before beating top seed Ljubicic in the title match. 
  • Stakhovsky is the fifth lucky loser to win an ATP title (since 1978), joining Miniussi, Francisco Clavet (1990 Hilversum), Bill Scanlon (1978 Maui) and Heinz Gunthardt (1978 Springfield). 
  • Ljubicic was appearing in his third straight Zagreb final, winning the title two years ago and reaching the final in 2007-08. It was the No. 1 Croat's 20th career ATP final (8-12).

 


WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID


Stakhovsky: "I definitely surprised myself with my mental side that I could stand over to win the matches. It wasn't easy, to go when you serve for the match against against Karlovic, or Tipsarevic or any other player, in the far stages of the tournament such as the quarterfinals, semifinals or final. It's really not easy. I am just surprised the way I handled this."

 

"For me it was easier because I was the lucky loser and under less pressure than he was because he was in front of the home crowd. But it was a really close match and it's hard to explain what happened. It was just a close match, and I was just a little bit more lucky, a couple of shots that actually decided the match and I am really happy to win this title."

 

Ljubicic: "Sergiy played unbelieveable. Since he lost in qualies, he played some fantastic matches, (against) Karlovic, Tipsarevic, Bolelli and myself and he was just too good. I tried everything and it didn't workHe won his first title and it's great for him but I am also happy with the finals. I am feeling good and hope my form is going to come back more consistently and now with the Masters Series coming up, the last two years I've played well there and hope to play well again."

 

 DOUBLES FINAL - AUSSIE DUO CAPTURE FIRST ATP TITLE TOGETHER

  • Top seeds Paul Hanley and Jordan Kerr defeated Christopher Kas and Rogier Wassen 6-3, 3-6, 10-8 in the final of the PBZ Zagreb Indoors on Saturday to claim their first ATP team title. The Australian duo won just six points more than their opponents in a tight encounter, which saw both teams break serve once.  
  • Hanley and Kerr had played just one ATP doubles event together prior to this week, falling in the first round at Auckland in January 2005. 
  • The 30-year-old Hanley now has captured 21 ATP doubles titles while Kerr has eight. 
  • The German-Dutch duo of Kas and Wassen, who began playing together at the beginning of the 2008 season, were contesting their first ATP final in six tournaments, their best previous showing being the semifinals at Doha.


WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID

 

Hanley: “I hadn’t won a tournament actually, it’s been over a year, it’s been a long time coming for me,” said Hanley. “Even though last year I had a couple of great results, didn’t actually win too many… just won the one tournament that was right at the start of the year. It’s great to be back in the winners’ circle, so to speak.”

 

Kerr: “It was very tight. I thought we had a lot of opportunities in the second set but they hung on and played well, and then we played pretty aggressively in the super tie-break. I think that was the difference in the end.”
         
“Coming into the week, it hasn’t been the best start to the year but funnily enough we got together last minute and I think we were both pretty relaxed for the entire week and what happened, happened. We ended up getting the job done and I think it’s great for the confidence going into Indian Wells and Miami.”

Can't find what you're looking for? Try Google Search! 

Google

 

 

Forward This Article to a Friend

Back to Tennisnews.com Home Page