March 2, 2008 ZAGREB, Croatia: Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine won his initial ATP title with a 7-5, 6-4 victory over top-seeded Ivan Ljubicic on Saturday, becoming the first "lucky loser" to win a tour crown in 17 years.
The 22-year-old, 209th-ranked Stakhovsky faced only one break point, converted two of five of his own break opportunities, and prevailed in 1 hour, 49 minutes. He improved to 5-0 this season and became the first player to win a tour event after advancing from qualifying as a lucky loser since Argentine Christian Miniussi won Sao Paulo in 1991.
Stakhovsky, who came into the tournament with a career 6-13 match record, is only the fourth man in the history of the tour to achieve the feat. He had not played on the main tour since San Jose more than a year ago and his previous best showing in eight attempts was a quarterfinal appearance in Milan in 2005.
Ljubicic was his third seeded victim, having also beaten No. 2 Ivo Karlovic and No. 8 Janko Tipsarevic.
The 22-year-old, 209th-ranked Stakhovsky faced only one break point, converted two of five of his own break opportunities, and prevailed in 1 hour, 49 minutes. He improved to 5-0 this season and became the first player to win a tour event after advancing from qualifying as a lucky loser since Argentine Christian Miniussi won Sao Paulo in 1991.
Stakhovsky, who came into the tournament with a career 6-13 match record, is only the fourth man in the history of the tour to achieve the feat. He had not played on the main tour since San Jose more than a year ago and his previous best showing in eight attempts was a quarterfinal appearance in Milan in 2005.
Ljubicic was his third seeded victim, having also beaten No. 2 Ivo Karlovic and No. 8 Janko Tipsarevic.
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home