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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 work. He
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.”
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