Spaniard Feliciano Lopez ended a six-year trophy drought with a 7-5, 6-1 triumph over France’s Stephane Robert in the South African Open final on Sunday.
The only previous ATP title for the 28-year-old native of Toledo — ranked world No. 39 — came in Vienna when he defeated Argentine Guillermo Canas in a five-set thriller.
Lopez, seeded third for this ATP World Tour event, battled to subdue eighth seed Robert in a first set that went with service for 11 games before the Spaniard made a timely breakthrough.
PHOTO: EPA
It kept the capacity 3,300 crowd at the Montecasino entertainment center spellbound for 47 minutes as Lopez held service comfortably while Robert covered kilometers to continuously draw level.
But the 30°C heat drained the Frenchman, ranked 61 places below Lopez, and he was outclassed in the 21-minute second set, winning just one game while his service was broken twice. Victory on his first visit to South Africa made Madrid-based Lopez US$76,000 richer while the blow of losing was cushioned for Robert by a US$40,000 check.
Robert, from the town of Montargis, 110km south of Paris, acknowledged the superiority of Lopez by admitting that “he killed me.”
“Feliciano was better today with his unbelievable service and I lacked confidence, but this has been an amazing week for me,” boasted the man who made the seedings only because of late withdrawals. “I received many messages of support from my area and club and I look ahead with great hope. I am known as a clay court player, but now I believe I can also do well on hard courts at altitude.”
■ZAGREB INDOORS
AFP, ZAGREB
Top seed Marin Cilic of Croatia retained his ATP Zagreb indoor tournament title on Sunday, defeating German journeyman Michael Berrer 6-4, 6-7 (5/7), 6-3 in just over two-and-a-half hours.
The 65th-ranked Berrer, who was playing in his first ever ATP final, played above himself and showed that he had not reached the final by accident.
It makes Cilic only the fourth Croat ever to break into the top 10 — joining the ranks with compatriots Mario Ancic, Ivan Ljubicic and Goran Ivanisevic.
■MOVISTAR OPEN
AFP, SANTIAGO
Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil won the Movistar Open on red clay in Santiago, defeating Argentine Juan Monaco 6-2, 0-6, 6-4 on Sunday.
Bellucci, a 22-year-old left-hander, upset top-seeded Fernando Gonzalez on Saturday to reach the final. It was his second career ATP title after a victory last year on clay in Gstaad, Switzerland.
“After the problems in the second set, I felt I would be able to play well in the third,” said Bellucci, who was playing Monaco for the first time.
Monaco also advanced to the Movistar final in 2008, only to withdraw with a sprained ankle sustained in the doubles final the day before.
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