Zabaleta In the Money
SYNSAM SWEDISH OPEN
BASTAD, July 13, 2003
Zabaleta In the Money
Argentine wins second career title.
Fifth seed Mariano Zabaleta claimed his second career title when he
defeated sixth seed Nicolas Lapentti 6-3, 6-4 in the final of the
Synsam Swedish Open in Bastad. Zabaleta, who took out top seed and
defending champion Carlos Moya in the semifinals, won his first title
in Bogota in 1998. The 25-year-old Argentine had lost his past four
finals on the ATP circuit, including in Acapulco earlier this year
when he was defeated by countryman Agustin Calleri.
Zabaleta is 27-15 for the year, just one win shy of his career-best
28-31 season in 1999. The Argentine has beaten Lapentti five consecutive
times (all on clay) and leads their career head-to-head series 5-1.
Ecuador's Lapentti, who defeated No. 2 seed Tommy Robredo in the
semifinals, was making his first appearance in a final since winning
the title in St. Poelten in 2002. He is 16-15 on the season. Lapentti
saved five match points in his quarterfinal victory over Spanish
teenager Rafael Nadal.
During the presentation ceremony, Zabaleta was surprised when
tournament officials played a version of ABBA's Money, Money,
Money, which the Argentine recorded with Younes El Aynaoui during
the week. (Many players recorded covers of ABBA songs which were
replayed at the Players' Party.) ...XD
DOUBLES FINAL
Simon Aspelin and Massimo Bertolini won their second title in their
second tournament as a team, defeating Lucas Arnold and Mariano Hood
6-7(3), 6-0, 6-4. Aspelin and Bertolini now boast an 8-0 team record
on the season and have decided to play together for the remainder of
the season.
Aspelin, who reached the Bastad final in 2001 with Andrew Kratzmann,
won his third career doubles title, while Bertolini claimed his second.
Arnold and Hood, who won the Valencia title earlier this year, were
appearing in their third final of the year on the ATP circuit, and
their fifth overall having won two Challenger titles.
WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID
Zabaleta: "I've been working very hard for this. It was five years
ago that I won my first title, so it's been a long time. It's been
one of my goals to win a title this year. I played a near perfect
match - I hardly missed anything.
"I've had a lot of good matches this week. Beating Youzhny was an
important win and I also beat Carlos Moya in the semifinals."
Lapentti: "I haven't had a spectacular year, so I'm very happy to
reach the final. I played a good match against Costa at Roland Garros,
and I felt that I've been headed in the right direction."
Aspelin: "We found each other almost by accident. We were scheduled
to play in a Prague Challenger in May but we found out that we'd been
accepted into St. Poelten, which we played and won. Now we've won a
second title, so we've decided to play together for the rest of the
season."
--
嗜香草可樂，想泡在香草可樂池子裡的變溫動物。
--
※ 發信站: 批踢踢實業坊(ptt.csie.ntu.edu.tw)
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