Martin Klizan finally wins his maiden ATP title in St. Petersburg – Tennis News
Current world number 33, Martin Klizan has finally broken into the winners’ circle after winning his career maiden ATP World Tour championship title last Sunday. The 23-year-old Slovak stood victorious against the Italian contender,
Fabio Fognini, in the final of the St. Petersburg Open on Sunday. Klizan registered a thumping straight sets victory, 6-2, 6-3, to lift his first title in style.
The 23-year-old has been in the professional tennis circuit since 2007 and it has taken him almost five long years to bag his maiden trophy. He was seeded at number three in the tournament but posted top notch performance to stun
the fourth seeded Italian in the crunch game. Klizan now holds 18-11 winning record in the current year and aims to improve his stats before the conclusion of the 2012 ATP season.
The Slovak hasn’t been much successful in the more elite tournaments and he was expected to find his luck in the lesser competitive ATP World Tour 250-level events. Klizan was extremely pleased on his emphatic victory and believes
that he has played his best tennis this week.
“For me it's the best week I've ever played,” the Slovak said at the presentation ceremony. “I think I played a great week. It's pretty tough after the Davis Cup; we had tough matches Friday and Sunday. For me, it was a little
bit uncomfortable to come here this week, but I was just fighting from the beginning till the end and I feel great.”
He came under the lime light after registering the biggest upset of the tournament when he disposed of the top seeded Russian, Mikhail Youzhny, in the semi-finals. He built his impetus from there and went on to sweep the next encounter
to be declared the champion at St. Petersburg Open.
“I wasn't nervous,” he added, “I think the hardest match for me was against [Mikhail] Youzhny in the semis, so after that match I think I was playing pretty good. I wasn't nervous; I feel great and I was just enjoying the match.”
With the 2012 circuit heading towards it conclusion, Klizan can bag a couple of more titles to rise further in the men’s rankings.
Tags: