Martin Klizan downs Fabio Fognini to grab title – St. Petersburg Open 2012
Seeded third in the draw, Slovakia’s Martin Klizan captured maiden title of his career by beating the fourth seed, Fabio Fognini of Italy, in straight sets 6-2, 6-3 in the final of St. Petersburg Open in Russia on Sunday.
Klizan made an ideal start to the title match, as he hit blows to the Italian player in the first and third game, winning his own serves to race to a 4-0 lead. The Slovakian did not allow Fognini to stage a comeback and captured
it 6-2.
In the second set, Klizan and Fognini held their serve in the first two games to square off the proceedings at 1-1. A series of breaks of serve happened after that, as both players found it difficult to hold. The Slovakian youngster
and his Italian opponent traded a couple of strikes in the following four games, taking the score to 3-3. Klizan hit more blows to Fognini in the seventh and ninth, sealing it 6-3.
The Slovakian served averagely, hitting only one ace and 58 percent of the first serves in the match. The 23-year-old converted 17 of the 25 first and 12 of the 18 second deliveries into points. The 6ft 2in tall failed to put away
both break threats he came across but utilised six of the 11 he created.
Klizan needed only one hour and nine minutes to topple his Italian rival and capture the first tour level title of his career.
The Slovakian guided his national team to victory over Portugal in the Davis Cup play offs by winning both of his single rubbers at last weekend.
Klizan said at the end of the match, "It's always very difficult to play a tournament after Davis Cup. I've played many matches and it was a tough Davis Cup for us, so it was a very, very tough week this one. I was really ‘dead’
yesterday after the match, but I've played really solid this week and I'm very happy to win my first title. I hope I can get more points at the end of this season."
He added, "I said last year that I would like to be Top 100 by the end of this year and I've already done it. Now I've been Top 50, Top 40, maybe I can be Top 30 at the end of the year.”
Klizan earned 250 Ranking points with this win and rose to career high position of 33.
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