Sergiy Stakhovsky's dream week at the Zagreb Indoors had the perfect ending as he beat Ivan Ljubicic to claim the title. Stakhovsky posted a 7-5 6-4 victory in Saturday's final to win his first ATP title.
The Ukrainian, ranked a lowly 209 in the world, only got into the tournament as a lucky loser from qualifying when Michael Llodra withdrew at the last minute. The 22-year-old Ukrainian becomes the first lucky loser to win an ATP title since Christian Miniussi at Sao Paulo in 1991. He is the fifth player to accomplish the achievement.
Stakhovsky took full advantage of his late entry, beating second seed Ivo Karlovic in round one and then taking out number eight seed Janko Tipsarevic in the quarter-finals. Home hope Ljubicic, the top seed, had hoped to stop Stakhovsky's run but could not break his opponent's serve during the final. In contrast, Stakhovsky gained key breaks in the 11th game of the opening set and the ninth game of the second. He said: "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 quarter-finals, semi-finals 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, (it was) a couple of shots that actually decided the match and I am really happy to win this title." Stakhovsky's best tournament in eight ATP events prior to this was a quarter-final appearance in Milan in 2005.
Ljubicic paid credit to his conqueror, saying: "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."
The Ukrainian, ranked a lowly 209 in the world, only got into the tournament as a lucky loser from qualifying when Michael Llodra withdrew at the last minute. The 22-year-old Ukrainian becomes the first lucky loser to win an ATP title since Christian Miniussi at Sao Paulo in 1991. He is the fifth player to accomplish the achievement.
Stakhovsky took full advantage of his late entry, beating second seed Ivo Karlovic in round one and then taking out number eight seed Janko Tipsarevic in the quarter-finals. Home hope Ljubicic, the top seed, had hoped to stop Stakhovsky's run but could not break his opponent's serve during the final. In contrast, Stakhovsky gained key breaks in the 11th game of the opening set and the ninth game of the second. He said: "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 quarter-finals, semi-finals 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, (it was) a couple of shots that actually decided the match and I am really happy to win this title." Stakhovsky's best tournament in eight ATP events prior to this was a quarter-final appearance in Milan in 2005.
Ljubicic paid credit to his conqueror, saying: "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."
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