Ukrainian qualifier Sergiy
Stakhovsky finished off a surprising week with a three-set victory over
Argentina's Horacio Zeballos to capture the title at the St. Petersburg Open.
Stakhovsky became the third qualifier this season to capture an ATP singles
crown, rallying for a 2-6, 7-6 (10-8), 7-6 (9-7) victory on Sunday. The other
qualifiers to win titles this year were Germany's Benjamin Becker in June at
's-Hertogenbosch and Brazil's Thomaz Bellucci in August in Gstaad.
It was the second career title for the 93rd-ranked Stakhovsky, who also took a
lengthy path to his first crown last year in Zagreb. He was a lucky loser in
the field at Zagreb and went on to beat Ivan Ljubicic for the title, becoming
the first lucky loser to win an ATP event since Christian Miniussi in 1991.
"It really means a lot because this season hasn't been very good for me," said
Stakhovsky, who was coming off a quarterfinal appearance last week in Moscow.
"I played three quarterfinals at Tour events, but I was struggling with my
tennis. My draws were not so good in the Grand Slam events. So this title
means a lot because I started playing good recently in the last four weeks."
The eighth-seeded Zeballos was appearing in his first career ATP final in just
his fourth ATP World Tour-level event.
Stakhovsky claimed a first prize of $118,150.
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