KUALA LUMPUR: Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia won his first ever title when he emerged champion of the men’s singles 2011 ATP Malaysian Open tennis championship at Putra Stadium, Bukit Jalil here yesterday.
FIRST EVER: Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia kiss his winning trophy after beating Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus during their men’s singles final at the ATP Malaysia Open tennis tournament in Kuala Lumpur. — AFP photo
The second seeded Tipsarevic outclassed wildcard Marcos Baghdatis 6-4, 7-5 in a high pressure match that lasted for two hours and six minutes.
“It feels great to win against a good player like Baghdatis in a comfortable environment like this.
“I think I deserved it. I managed to keep my head cool throughout the game.
I did not play too defensive or too aggresive,” he told the media after the match.
The world number 17 put up a strong defence against the aggresive world ranked 60 Baghdatis and even managed to stage a comeback after trailing behind 0-3 in the first set.
Although Baghdatis tried to fight back in the second set by racking two break points and three aces, Tipsarevic kept his composure till the end to finally win the match and his first career title.
The 27-year old took home a trophy and US$155,000 (RM494,450) in prize money.
Earlier, Eric Butorac of United States and Jean-Julien Rojer of Netherland
Antilles won the men’s doubles title after defeating Frantisek Cermak of Czechoslovakia and Filip Polasek of Slovakia 6-1, 6-3.
The pair received trophies and US$47,050 (RM150,089) in prize money.—Bernama.