Home > Sports > Tennis > Reuters > Report

Zabaleta wins Swedish Open

July 12, 2004 20:55 IST

Argentine Mariano Zabaleta retained the Swedish Open title with a 6-1, 4-6, 7-6 victory over his compatriot and friend Gaston Gaudio in the rain-delayed final in Bastad, Sweden on Monday.

Second seed Gaudio won the French Open last month but Zabaleta showed he was the master on the Swedish clay as he bagged his third career title.

"This is my favourite tournament," said Zabaleta, who ended a five-year title drought last year when he won the event. "I promise to come back next year.

"I beat a great player today...I was focused and concentrated and played very well in the third set tie-break.

"It feels even better to win this year. Now, I can play some jokes with Gaston.

"Last time we played was a long time ago but I know his game very well," added Zabaleta, who practised with Gaudio in Buenos Aires in his teens.

Zabaleta clinched the first set in just 29 minutes after Gaudio failed to hold serve once.

Gaudio found his rhythm in the second set and broke Zabaleta for a 5-4 lead before levelling the contest.

Zabaleta regained the momentum at the start of the deciding set to race into a 4-2 lead.

But nerves crept into his game as he tried to close out the match. Zabaleta allowed the world number 11 to claw his way back into the match and also wasted a match point on Gaudio's serve in the 12th game.

With Gaudio forcing the match into a tie-break, Zabaleta lobbed his opponent on match point to seal it 7-4.

"Congratulations Mariano, you are a worthy winner," said Gaudio.

"This has been a great week. Like I said yesterday, the weather was the only enemy here. Everything else was unbelievable and I will be back next year."


Article Tools
Email this article
Top emailed links
Print this article
Write us a letter
Discuss this article



Related Stories


Wistful Goran welcomes the end

Agassi to miss Wimbledon

Ivanisevic melts hearts









© Copyright 2004 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters. Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in the content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon.











Copyright © 2004 rediff.com India Limited. All Rights Reserved.