Seven months ago, Martin Klizan was ranked at No. 121 in the world, today he’s is No. 45 and climbing. The Slovak captured his first ATP World Tour on Sunday defeating Fabio Fognini of Italy 6-2, 6-3 for the St. Petersburg Open.
The 23-year-old’s breath through win came at the recent US Open when the southpaw upset 6th seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
Klizan made his way to the finals by stunning top seed Mikhail Youzhny of Russia in an almost four-hour match.
“It’s always very difficult to play a tournament after Davis Cup. I’ve played many matches and it was a tough Davis Cup for us, so it was a very, very tough week this one, “Klizan said. “I was really ‘dead’ yesterday after the match, but I’ve played really solid this week and I’m very happy to win my first title. I hope I can get more points at the end of this season.
“I said last year that I would like to be Top 100 by the end of this year and I’ve already done it. Now I’ve been Top 50, Top 40, maybe I can be Top 30 at the end of the year. I hope I can be healthy and still with enough power to play until the end of the season. I’ve played many, many great weeks.”
RESULTS – SUNDAY, 23 SEPTEMBER, 2012
Singles – Final
[3] M Klizan (SVK) d [4] F Fognini (ITA) 62 63
Doubles – Final
[1] R Ram (USA) / N Zimonjic (SRB) d L Lacko (SVK) / I Zelenay (SVK) 62 46 10-6