The Czech Republic’s Radek Stepanek came from a set down to upset second seed Fernando Verdasco 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the final of the Brisbane International tennis tournament yesterday.
The high-quality match lasted two-and-a-quarter hours and was a fitting climax to the first tournament played at the new Queensland Tennis Center.
It was the third match in a row that Stepanek had to recover from a first set deficit to defeat a higher-ranked opponent following three-set wins over Robin Soderling in the quarter-finals and Richard Gasquet in the semis.
PHOTO: AFP
As he did against both Soderling and Gasquet, the eighth-seeded Stepanek started slowly, dropping his first service game and quickly finding himself 3-0 down.
He managed only a 29 percent success rate with his first serves during the opening set but somehow got through the remainder of the set dropping just the one service game.
Stepanek lifted his serve in the second two sets and began to pressure Verdasco, moving him around the court and not letting him establish any rhythm.
PHOTO: AFP
He used the drop shot with great effect, bringing Verdasco forward at almost every opportunity.
“Part of the game plan today was to move him around the court and it worked pretty well,” the 30-year-old Stepanek said. “Since I was young I’ve loved to play drop shots and move people around the court. I’ve been destroying the rhythm of my opponents since I was a kid and I’m still doing that today.”
Stepanek broke the Spaniard in the fourth game of the second set and held on to send the match into a decider.
PHOTO: AFP
He got away to the best possible start in the third, breaking Verdasco in the opening game and again in the fifth to open up a 4-1 lead.
But Verdasco broke back immediately and held his serve to get back to 3-4.
The Spaniard then had a break point in the next game to get back to 4-4 but couldn’t convert and an increasingly confident Stepanek went on to claim the third ATP title of his career.
“I knew that I had to stay positive because I’ve played Fernando [two times] and both matches were pretty tight,” he said. “I was fighting to the last point and I knew that as the match was going the distance I was getting better and better. I was starting to feel physically on a high and I knew I would [be able to] spend hours on the court just to get the trophy.”
In men’s doubles, Marc Gicquel and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France defeated Fernando Verdasco of Spain and Mischa Zverev of Germany, 6-4, 6-3.
■HOBART INTERNATIONAL
AFP, HOBART
Tournament second seed Patty Schnyder was bounced out of the Hobart WTA International in the first round yesterday.
Unseeded Bulgarian Tsvetana Pironkova, 21, outplayed the Swiss world No. 15, 6-2, 6-4.
Schnyder, 30, earned a code violation for unsportsmanlike behavior late in the second set for audible obscenities following a prolonged argument with the chair umpire over a line call.
It was one of several clashes Schnyder had with chair umpire Kerrilyn Kramer.
Pironkova rattled Schnyder with her big serving game.
“I’ve only had two or three top 20 wins so it’s a big win for me,” the world No.43 said.
Yesterday’s other first round winners were Slovakian Magdalena Rybarikova, Czech Iveta Benesova and Ukraine’s Alona Bondarenko.
■QATAR OPEN
AFP, DOHA AND SYDNEY,AUSTRALIA
Andy Murray heads to the Australian Open with the weight of 73 years of desperate British Grand Slam history on his shoulders and still haunted by the bitter memory of last year’s experience in the Melbourne sun.
The 21-year-old brushed aside Andy Roddick 6-4, 6-2 to defend his Qatar Open title in Doha to add to his victory in the Abu Dhabi exhibition event the week before, where he had also seen off the world’s top two, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
In Doha, he defeated Federer again in the semi-finals for his fifth victory in seven meetings with the 13-time Grand Slam title winner.
With defending Australian Open champion and Novak Djokovic having been dumped out of the first round in Brisbane last week, many now believe Murray is the most likely champion in Melbourne. If that happens, he’d be the first British man to win a Grand Slam title since Fred Perry back in 1936.
However, Murray is aware that 12 months ago, his Australian Open suffered a heartbreaking early end when eventual finalist Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France knocked him out in the first round.
“I feel good going into the Australian Open, but after what happened last year I don’t want to get too carried away,” he said. “I just need to concentrate on each match and fight hard as every round will be tough. I am one of the top guys but I don’t know if I am the favorite at the Australian Open. There is Roger, Rafa and Novak, who won last year. I like playing in Melbourne but I did not play well last year.”
Murray’s win in Doha was the ninth of his career and nudged his earnings closer to the US$6 million mark. Despite his caution over his Grand Slam prospects in Melbourne, he believes he is improving as a player.
“What excites me is that I don’t think I’m close to my best tennis. I still think I can play better and improve things,” said the Scot, who reached the US Open final last year where he lost to Federer.
Roddick believes Murray is a Grand Slam champion-in-waiting.
“He played great, and I think I’m in a majority of people when I say it’s a question of when, not if, he wins a Grand Slam,” he said.
Meanwhile, Maria Sharapova will not defend her title at the Australian Open next week after withdrawing from the year’s opening grand slam tournament, officials said yesterday.
The Russian world No. 9 advised tournament officials that she was not confident of her fitness levels after a shoulder surgery late last year.
The 21-year-old was hindered by a right shoulder injury much of last season and skipped the Beijing Olympics and the US Open before having arthroscopic surgery in October.
“I am very sorry to announce that I am not going to be able to defend my title at this year’s Australian Open,” Sharapova said in a Tennis Australia statement. “My shoulder is doing great, but I just started training a few weeks ago and I am just not near the level I need to be to compete at the highest levels.”
Sharapova did not drop a set on the way to winning her third grand slam in Australia last January.
She went on to win her first 18 matches of the season and reclaimed her world No. 1 ranking in May.
But the shoulder injury hampered her progress in the second half of the year and the last match she played for the year was in Montreal in August.
Tournament Director Craig Tiley said he was disappointed for Sharapova.
“She played some amazing tennis on Rod Laver Arena last year and I know she has been working around the clock to try and get back from the shoulder injury. In the end, time beat her this year,” he said in the statement.
The Australian Open gets under way in Melbourne next Monday.
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