Andrey Golubev wins German Open Tennis Championship
The 82 ranked player in the world from Kazakhstan, Andrey Golubev clinched the German Open Tennis Championships 2010 in Hamburg. This was a historical win for Golubev as this is his careers’ first ever ATP title.
Golubev did a magnificent job playing against his opponent Jurgen Melzer and won a straight sets victory of 6-3, 7-5. Golubev after this victory will get 500 South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking points. He will also take home €228,000 prize money for the tournament.
The runners up, Jurgen Melzer, after the event will get 300 South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking points along with €104,000 prize money. Melzer was the favourite for winning the final being the top seed of the tournament. He also proved his shape and fitness throughout the tournament. Although Golubev was proving to be the underdog in the tournament playing exceptionally well and maintaining his best performance throughout, nobody expected the victory for him to be so easy even if there was an expectation.
Starting off in the first set with a solid serve, he went on to hit some 3 aces to take a one set lead against Melzer. His marvellous service brought him 81% service points where he gave only 5 service points to his opponent. The lone break point opportunity given to him by Melzer in the first set was also magnificently converted by the Kazakh player. He won a total of 30 points against Melzer’s 19 to clinch the set 6-3.
In the second set, Melzer started to establish a grip on his game, but it seemed that Golubev was determined to finish off his opponent without any delay. Melzer was leading the set in the beginning with 3-2. In a magnificent display of his court presence, Golubev saved all of the five break point opportunities he gave and levelled the set at 3-3. Melzer saved two out of the three break points opportunities he presented. The one opportunity that he couldn’t save was perhaps the most crucial one. In the 11th game, Golubev earned a break point on his serve when the game score was 0/30.
From then on Golubev served his way to victory. Although he double faulted thrice in the second set, he claimed his victory in one hour and twenty nine minutes to the surprise of many. Golubev has only won eight tour level matches but the Kazakh was in extreme form in the German Open, as he didn’t lose a single set in the whole week. He defeated the top seed, World no. 6, Russian Nikolay Davydenko, in a straight sets victory of 6-4, 6-4. Prior to this he defeated the Spanish Marcel Granollers in another straight sets victory 6-4, 7-5.
The Davydenko defeat at the hands of Golubev was a confidence booster for the Kazakh. He claimed yet another straight sets victory of 6-4, 6-1 against the Uzbek Denis Istomin. This was Golubev’s second ATP World Tour final. His first one was against Andy Murray in St. Petersburg Open where he was the runners-up. While sharing the joyous moments with the press, Golubev said “I’m very happy to win my first title, especially here in Hamburg on a clay-court. I never expected that my first title would be on clay. I played very well, I believed in myself. It was very tough. I served well; I played very well from the baseline. In the important points I played very good. I think the most important thing this week was that I believed in myself, I believed in my game, my forehand and backhand”.
Melzer was at his career peak and was aiming to win his first ATP World Tour title after being a semi-finalist at Roland Garros. Praising his opponent after the match Melzer said “He played a really good match. He started off unbelievable in the first set and I was a little unlucky to get broken at 4-3. In the second set I had my chances and couldn’t convert them. It is how it is. He really felt good out there and I wasn’t just playing well enough to get him struggling”.
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