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Ljubicic lifts BA-CA Trophy in Vienna
Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic won his second successive ATP Tour title on Sunday.
- Indo-Asian News Service
- Updated: February 25, 2007 09:52 AM IST
Read Time:2 min
Vienna:
Croatia's Ivan Ljubicic won his second successive ATP Tour title on Sunday, beating seventh-seeded Juan Carlos Ferrero of Spain 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5) in the BA-CA Trophy final in the Austrian capital Vienna. The 26-year-old Ljubicic went into the contest with an 11-match winning streak, having won his second career title in Metz, France last week. He has also helped Croatia reach the Davis Cup final where they will take on Slovakia at the beginning of December. For his part, Ferrero was looking for his 12th tournament victory in his 24th career final. His last title came at the ATP Masters Series in Madrid in 2003. This year the 25-year-old had reached just one final, in Barcelona, where he lost to Rafael Nadal. Early break Once the match got underway, Ljubicic, relying on his serve-and-volley, broke Ferrero early and pulled away to a 5-2 lead before clinching the first set 6-2. Both players stayed on serve in the second set until Ljubicic broke the Spaniard late on before closing out the set 6-4. Ferrero had a chance to break at 4-4 in the third set, but an unforced error cost him. He then saved a match point at 4-5 and with both players holding serve the set went into a tiebreak. In that tiebreak, Ljubicic eased to a 4-1 lead and soon after clinched his 12th successive victory and second title in a row with a backhand volley after Ferrero had done well to reach a drop-shot at the net. Ljubicic completed a straight sets victory, 6-2, 6-4, 7-6 (7-5). He became the second Croat to win the title in Vienna after Goran Ivanisevic in 1993 and 1997. (AP)Topics mentioned in this article
Tennis Ivan Ljubicic
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