TENNIS WORLD

Spanish top seed Fernando Verdasco (pictured) captured his second ATP singles title with a 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(4) victory over fourth-seeded Russian Igor Andreev in the final of the ATP Studena Croatia Open on Sunday.
Madrid resident Verdasco becomes the seventh different Spaniard to win an ATP singles title this season, joining Nicolas Almagro, David Ferrer, Marcel Granollers, Rafael Nadal, Tommy Robredo and today’s Amersfoort winner Albert Montanes. This is the 14th overall title for Spain, already improving on last year's mark of 13.
The victory ends a four-year title drought for the 24-year-old Verdasco, who captured his first ATP singles title at 2004 Valencia (d. Montanes). He has since finished runner-up at four events at 2004 Acapulco (l. to Moya), 2005 Kitzbuhel (l. to Gaudio), 2007 St. Petersburg (l. to Murray) and most recently at Nottingham (l. to Karlovic) last month.
After dropping the first set by two breaks of serve, Verdasco fought-back to level the match with one break of serve securing the second set. He led with a double break at 3-0 in the third set and served for the match at before being forced into a tie-break, which he clinched after 2 hr., 50 min., of play.
"It feels amazing to win like this after such a tough battle," said Verdasco. "I was playing really well and leading 3-0 40-0 and then maybe I stopped being so aggressive and he came back strong. At 5-4 he played an amazing game and there was not much I could do. I just tried to stay aggressive in the tie-break and managed to take my chances."
"I lost 7-6 in the third in my last final against Karlovic in Nottingham, so to win it this time in that same way, it's an incredible feeling. It's been a great week and I hope to come back here for many years."
The title is a continuation of fine form from Verdasco, who rose to a career-high of No. 13 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings two weeks ago following a strong grass court season, when he reached his first career grass-court final at Nottingham and a Grand Slam-best fourth round at Wimbledon (l. to Ancic). Last week he reached the Bastad semifinals (l. to Berdych) on clay.
"I hope to keep playing like this," said Verdasco. "My ranking is going up but I don't want to set any specific goals. If I keep playing like this things will come on their own."
The Spaniard’s other highlights this season include the quarterfinals at Valencia (l. to Ferrer) and Masters Series Hamburg (l. to Federer), and another Grand Slam-best fourth round finish at Roland Garros (l. to Nadal).
The left-hander notched his 30th match win of the season (currently 31-17; 17-8 on clay) by defeating Fabio Fognini in the semifinals this week. He is on course to break his career-best record of 35-28, set in 2005.
Andreev, who celebrated his 25th birthday on Monday, was contesting his second straight ATP singles final after also finishing runner-up last week in Gstaad (l. to Hanescu). He slips to 3-6 lifetime in finals; his last title came at 2005 Moscow (d. Kiefer).
"We always have very close matches when we play each other," said Andreev. "I've played him three times now and every time it's been very tight, and good quality tennis. Maybe physically he was a little bit stronger than me today. I had to fight to come back in the third set but I had no power left in the tie-break. Anyway, I was happy to be part of this final and have to think positively about the way I am playing."
The World No. 30 now drops to 28-21 for the season, highlighted by quarterfinal appearances at Buenos Aires (l. to Acasuso), Dubai (l. to Djokovic) and ATP Masters Series events in Miami (l. to Berdych) and Monte-Carlo (l. to Davydenko).
The winner, Verdasco now collects €54,250 Euros; while the beaten finalist, Andreev earns €28,750