Spaniard Feliciano Lopez sunk to his knees and removed a monkey off his back after winning his first ATP singles title in almost six years while beating French “Cinderella Man” Stephane Robert 7-5, 6-1 in the South African Open final on Sunday.
It was, in fact, only the third seed’s second major career singles title following on his victory in Vienna in 2004, with additional sweeteners on a warm, partly cloudy afternoon in Johannesburg the R600 000 winner’s prize and a world ranking that is expected to be elevated from 39th to 31st when the new ratings are released on Monday.
And the wonder of it all was that the lethal, big-serving left-hander has not achieved a greater degree of glory in view of his exceptional array of talents, which on numerous occasions has been marred by a degree of inconsistency.
“Perhaps this victory,” said the engaging Spanish Davis Cup performer who had accounted for the top-seeded Gael Monfils in the semifinals, “will boost my confidence and give me a greater belief in my ability to go on and win more titles.”
He also added that he had every intention of returning to South Africa next year to defend his title.
And there seemed no lack of a growing degree of confidence on this occasion as Lopez dominated the match against Robert with his potent serve and took a stranglehold on the proceedings in the second set by reeling off five games in a row.
But Robert, the relatively unknown 100th-ranked player in the tournament who had outsmarted second-seeded David Ferrer in the semifinals, had no cause to feel disgraced with his performance, making a competitive match of it until 5-5 in the first set and then having a stroke of cruel luck against him when a Lopez ground shot struck the net forcibly and then bounced tantalisingly into play.
This was the 29 year-old Robert’s first ATP final and he emerged with enhanced stature and credit — particularly as he had been laid off tennis for 15 months while suffering from hepatitis A.
Late comeback
At a stage of his career when some players are contemplating retirement, he has achieved new heights with a clinical, calculating baseline style while earning a runners-up prize of R300 000 — and he credits his resurgence to the influence of French coach Ronan Lafaix.
But Lopez’s serve was all too much for him in the high altitude conditions and he admitted as much to this afterwards. “The fact that he is a lefthander made it more difficult for me,” he said.
As for Lopez, there will be no time to celebrate. He flew out almost immediately after the Montecasino final for a tournament this week in Rotterdam where he plays Nikolay Davydenko in the first round on Wednesday — boosted by his South African Open success and a 4-1 career record against the Russian world top tenner.
And in the men’s doubles final, which preceded the singles final, Rohan Bopanna of India and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan edged out Israel’s Harel Levy and Slovakia’s Karol Beck 2-6, 6-3, 10-5. — Sapa