Apia International Sydney Tennis - Australian Open Series

Nalbandian claims the Sydney crown

AAP Saturday 17 January 2009 16 Comments »

Argentine fourth seed David Nalbandian defeated Finland’s unseeded Jarkko Nieminen to win the Medibank International Sydney final, 6-3, 6-7 (9/11), 6-2 on Saturday.

It was Nalbandian’s 10th career ATP title in his 20th final appearance, and left Nieminen with just one title from nine finals.

Nalbandian appeared to be heading for a comfortable straight sets victory when he was serving for the match at 5-4, but was broken to love as Nieminen surged back into contention.

The left-handed Finn battled back, taking the second set in a tiebreaker 11 points to nine.

But Nalbandian broke Nieminen’s serve three times in the final set to take the championship in two hours and 16 minutes.

Nalbandian said winning the Sydney title was the perfect preparation heading into the Australian Open.

“I’m very happy for the week that I had here.  I think I played good tennis with the best tennis of the world, and from the very beginning of the week I start play good,” he said post-match.

“Today it was a tough match.  I feel that I played very good sometimes and sometimes not that good.  But it was a a very positive week, and I feel that I’m going to arrive to Melbourne with a lot of confidence.”

Nieminen said he was disappointed to go down in the final but was confident he could carry his form into Melbourne.

“David was playing with good tempo, so that made it even tougher to get into the game.  But then finally when I was almost losing the match I got my legs moving and finally won the second set,” he said.

“He was moving better and controlling the game. I was just trying to hang in there, but I couldn’t control the game anymore. He really deserved to win in the end.”

“I needed these wins [in Sydney], and I got a lot confidence from this week.  I really feel good, and I don’t feel physically tired.”

Tags: David Nalbandian, Jarkko Nieminen

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