Lucky loser Stakhovsky stuns Ljubicic

Ukraine's Sergiy Stakhovsky caused a major upset by beating top seed Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia 7-5 6-4 in the Zagreb Indoor final to win his first ATP title.
Stakhovsky, who entered the tournament as a 'lucky loser' and is ranked 209th, started the match strongly against the world number 25 and refused to be intimidated by the big-serving Croat.

Both held serve until the 22-year-old Ukrainian broke Ljubicic at 5-5 to finish the set easily.

Stakhovsky then made a brave attempt to break Ljubicic's serve in a tough deuce battle in the fifth game of the second set.

The Croat held firm but too many unforced errors enabled his opponent to break him in the ninth game, giving the top seed little chance to strike back.

"Stakhovsky played great, I tried everything, but he just didn't give me any chances. I had only one chance for a break in the entire match, but failed to grab it", Ljubicic told reporters.

Stakhovsky was granted entry into the event only as a 'lucky loser' after the late withdrawal of Michael Llodra of France.

The last time a lucky loser won an ATP title was in 1991, when Argentine Christian Miniussi won in Sao Paulo.

"It's hard to say anything, it's like a dream...The entire week has been amazing and I hope I will have more successes like this in future", said Stakhovsky.