Croatian tennis player Marin Cilic needed three sets to deal with Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia in the final match of the Saint Petersburg Open.
Tipsarevic, who grabbed the Kremlin Cup in Moscow on October 24, looked quite tired playing his tenth match in just two weeks.
All the Serb could achieve was a break at the beginning of the second set, which allowed him to send the match into the decider.
Tipsarevic took a medical time-out after the first game in the third set to have the back of his right leg massaged.
And a much fresher Cilic took full advantage of his opponent’s condition, collecting a 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 win and his first title of the season.
“I played the first two sets a little bit up and down and had some unforced errors,” Cilic is cited by AP as saying. “But I played my best tennis in the third set. I lost four finals this year and all of them were in three sets. So today, when the match went into the third set, I was really into it to win.”
Meanwhile, Tipsarevic confirmed that his physical condition was far from perfect on the night.
“I really gave everything today,” he said. “But in the third set I felt it wasn’t about tennis, it was about me completely out of fuel on court. I’ve played a lot of matches in the last two weeks.”
The Saint Petersburg Open’s history began in 1995, with 23-year-old Cilic becoming the second Croat to lift the trophy after Mario Ancic in 2006.