18 February 2008
In the early going at SAA Tennis Open, top seed Ivan Ljubicic admitted he was under pressure back home for choosing to play in South Africa rather than in a bigger event in Marseille. On Sunday, he silenced his Croatian critics by capturing the title in East London.
Ljubicic, a late entry into the Open as a wildcard, scored a hard-fought 7-6 (7-2) 6-4 victory over second seed Stefan Koubek in front of a packed stadium at the Selborne Club.
"The press back home is pretty rough, and if I didn't win here they would say I was finished and that I should give up. So I was under a lot of pressure," said Ljubicic.
'Good for my confidence'
"It is not easy to win a challenger, especially when you have to beat players like Thomas Johansson and Stefan Koubek in the last two matches. But this victory is good for my confidence and I can take a lot away from this week."
The doubles title went to top seeds Jonas Bjorkman and Kevin Ullyett, who defeated third seeds Thomas Johansson and Koubek 6-2 6-2.
It was a testing Sunday for Ljubicic; he first had to come out and complete his semifinal encounter against Johansson, which had been halted at 6-6 in the second set when rain stopped play on Saturday.
Fortunately, with the first set already under his belt, it took Ljubicic just a few minutes to close out the tie-breaker 7-3. A few minutes later, he was back on court to take on Koubek in the final and his performance was close to immaculate.
Forced a tie-breaker
The Croat had a chance in the second game to move ahead, but Koubek saved the break point and then closed out the game with a pair of aces. He had a second chance in the 11th game, but once again the Austrian hung on and forced a tie-breaker.
Koubek led 2-1, but from that point on it was all Ljubicic. An ace, followed by three successive errors from the number two seed, set up a batch of set points which the Croat converted immediately with a massive serve that Koubek could not control.
"I was putting a lot of pressure on Stefan's serve and that made me feel confident going into the tie-breaker. He is the kind of player that if you give him the openings, he will hurt you. So I knew I had to be aggressive," reckoned Ljubicic.
He added that once a player has a set under his belt, it is a lot easier to play.
Squandered chance
When he broke serve in the opening game of the second set, the match appeared to be heading towards a quick conclusion. However, Ljubicic squandered a 40-15 lead in the next game and learned exactly what can happen if Koubek gets that window of opportunity.
Once back at deuce, Koubek came up with some big shots that forced a couple of errors from the Croat and when Ljubicic pushed a backhand wide, the set was all square.
A double fault in the fifth game, followed by a backhand error from the Koubek, gave the Croat two more break-point opportunities and he snatched the first when the Austrian dropped a forehand in the net.
An ace to end
This time, Ljubicic was not to be denied and he earned his first match point at 3-5, but missed his forehand. A short while later, when serving for the match, there were no mistakes and at 40-15, the top seed ended the match with an ace.
"It's not fun playing him," quipped Koubek. "My aim today was to put in a few returns, but he went for a bit extra and that made it very hard."
The Austrian said that last year he had reached the semifinals and this year the final. "I will have to come back next year and go one step further."
Ljubicic felt he had achieved everything he had aimed for at the SAA Open. "Only one player can leave a tournament not as a loser and I, when I fly out to Rotterdam tonight, it is with a lot of confidence for the future. My goal for the year is to get back into the top 10 and do well in the grand slams and the Olympics."
He said he could possibly be given the honour of carrying the Croatian flag into the stadium at the Beijing Olympic Games. "That would be the peak of my career if it happens."
SAA Open status
During the SAA Open, discussions were held with Richard Davies of the ATP Tour regarding the future of tournaments in South Africa; as president of the Players' Council, Ljubicic said he would support any move by the Tour to lift the status of the SAA Open from a Challenger to a full ATP Tour event.
"If you can get such a good crowd at a Challenger, I can only imagine how many people you would get at a full event. Unfortunately, the calendar is very full and it comes down to availability."
Source: South African Tennis Association
