The Hindu : Nalbandian secures maiden title

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Apr 16, 2002

Sport

Sport - Tennis

Nalbandian secures maiden title

ESTORIL (PORTUGAL) April 15. Argentina's David Nalbandian clinched his first career title here on Sunday when he beat Finland's Jarkko Nieminen 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) in the final of Estoril Open.

In the women's section, Spanish fourth-seeded Magui Serna claimed the women's title with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over German qualifier Anca Barna.

Nieminen was bidding to become the first player from Finland to win an ATP trophy having come close in November 2001 when he lost the final of the Stockholm Open to Swede Thomas Johansson.

Nalbandian ripped through the draw at the Estadio Nacional in a wind-blown week, eliminating holder Juan Carlos Ferroro of Spain in the second round and then knocking out former champion Carlos Moya in the semifinal.

Nieminen too, had performed his own giant-killing act in Portugal, knocking out second-seeded Marat Safin in the quarterfinals.

``It feels great to finally win my first title,'' said Nalbandian, who will move up from his current 59th in the weekly points race. ``Neither one of us gave anything away. I was lucky on some points and they went my way.''

Nalbandian won $68,300, while Nieminen returns to his home in Masku, Finland with $40,100, which should take care of some delayed dental work he has scheduled. He will return to the clay at the Barcelona Open in a week.

``I had a really great week here,'' said Nieminen. ``Every thing worked perfectly for me except this last match. But I'll take the runner-up trophy home to a special place on the shelf.''

The first set was played under sunny skies and little wind was strewn with breaks, five in ten games, as momentum shifts came quickly.

Nieminen claimed the early advantage for 2-0, but was overtaken by the Argentine, Nalbandian grabbing a 3-2 lead. The back-and-forth nature of the encounter finally ended as Nalbandian won the set after 47 minutes on an error from the Finn.

The second also began with promise for Nieminen, with the Finn breaking in the second game. But once again, Nalbandian levelled the set, breaking for 1-2 to get things back on even keel.

It stayed that way until the tie-breaker, when Nalbandian took victory in one hour, 45 minutes when Nienimen volleyed into the net.

Serna's win brought the 23-year-old her first title on the WTA Tour in her third final in Portugal. She was beaten last week in Porto in the title match by Angeles Montolio and came up short in the Porto final of 2001. The Spaniard will move to around 40th in the world as a result of her victory over the 24-year-old, who is ranked just outside the 100.

``I'm very happy to have finally won my first title. It feels good to be a winner,'' said Serna. ``In the first set I was a bit nervous, I was the favourite so I was a bit tense. But it got better in the second.''

— AFP

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