St Petersburg: Ukrainian qualifier Sergiy Stakhovsky recovered from a slow start to edge out eighth-seeded Argentine Horacio Zeballos 2-6, 7-6, 7-6 in a see-saw St Petersburg Open final on Sunday and clinch his second ATP title.
Zeballos, 24, playing in his first ATP final, led 3-0 in the second-set tiebreaker but allowed 93rd-ranked Stakhovsky to reel off six straight points, winning it 10-8 and levelling the match.
The two players then battled back-and-forth in the third set.
Stakhovsky, whose first title came last year in Zagreb, broke for a 4-3 lead and had a match point in the ninth game but Zeballos held before breaking back in the next game.
In the deciding tiebreak, both players held match points before the 23-year-old Kiev native finally sealed victory 9-7.
Bureau Report
First Published: Monday, November 02, 2009, 00:16