SYDNEY: Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus overcame the distraction of a lengthy rain interruption to beat France’s Richard Gasquet 6-4, 7-6 in the final of the Sydney International on Saturday.
Baghdatis, who burst on to the world stage when he made the Australian Open final in 2006, regained his composure after a lapse in concentration to claim his fourth ATP title in the final lead-up event before the first grand slam of 2010.
The 24-year-old made a flying start at the Sydney Olympic tennis center, breaking Gasquet’s opening service game then taking the first set, but lost his way after a 75-minute delay early in the second set.
“I felt pretty good on court,” Baghdatis said.
“(I’ve) just won a tournament, confidence is up, feeling pretty fit... I think everything is positive.
“I have some things to work on still... my serve, first serve percentage. I think that’s all. It’s the only thing that worries me a bit.” Baghdatis has been plagued with injuries over the past two seasons and was reduced to playing on the Challenger circuit last year.
Isner triumphs
In Auckland, towering American John Isner clinched his first ATP title Saturday, firing a barrage of aces to clinch a nail-biting victory over Frenchman Arnaud Clement in the final of the Heineken Open.
The 24-year-old hit 22 aces but his high unforced error rate kept the ice-cool French veteran in contention with Isner having to save a third set match point in the 12th game before winning 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (7/2).
“I would rather win that game like I did than if I had won it to love,” said Isner.
“It gave me a lot of confidence to play pretty much a flawless tie-break,” Isner said afterwards.
“This is the start of my third full year on the tour and I’m going to be in the top 30.
“With a weapon like my serve, as long as I improve other areas of my game I can see myself getting in the top 20 and maybe even better than that.” Winning the title in only his second ATP world tour final capped a year when the 206 cm (six foot nine inch) American climbed more than 100 places in the world rankings to 33 at the start of the tournament.
Clement struggled against Isner’s booming serve and powerful if sometimes erratic groundstrokes, which in earlier rounds accounted for seventh seed Juan Monaco and top seed Tommy Robredo.
Like Isner, the 33-year-old French veteran was unseeded in the Auckland event with a world ranking of 67, but the 2001 Australian Open finalist found his best form to defeat second seed David Ferrer and sixth seed Jurgen Melzer on his way to the final.
In his first ATP final since 2007, Clement had plenty of reason to feel optimistic following his Auckland performance.
“Overall I’m very happy with my game. If I play like this all year long I think I have a chance to be back in the top 20,” he said.
Isner broke Clement’s serve in the eighth game and easily held his own service games to take the first set 6-3.
But Clement came back strongly in the second, using the serve and volley and targeting Isner’s backhand to unsettle his bigger opponent.
Unforced errors in Isner’s final service match of the second saw the steadier Clement take the final into three sets.
Both dropped their first service games of the third but settled back into their rhythm to hold their remaining service games and force the tiebreak.
Isner raced to a 6/2 lead and clinched the title with a booming forehand.
