Hrbaty Lifts Second Auckland Trophy
Dominik Hrbaty won his second Heineken Open title with an exciting three
set victory over Spanish left-hander Rafael Nadal and renewed his claim
of Auckland being a second home.
Slovak Hrbaty was a winner of the event in 2001 and has now played six
times at the Heineken Open. He now has a record of 18-4 win/ loss in
Auckland, the best of any player in the modern era.
"For me it was a similar final to 2001. Today was even harder. I was
probably a little more tired today than 2001," said 26 year-old Hrbaty.
Hrbaty won the final in a see-saw battle with each player taking a lead
at various times but never being able to keep the opposition fully at
bay.
The eventual score was 4-6 6-2 7-5 with both players given a standing
ovation by the capacity crowd.
Even though he lost the final Nadal, 17 had made shot after shot to
eliminate the second and fourth seeds Novak and Schalken in straight
sets each time.
He also now has a 10-0 record for 2004 after winning last week in
Adelaide. He has been in three out of the past four finals in Auckland
and is the first person to win a second title since Tim Wilkinson in 1982
(Wilkinson's first title was in 1979).
"Last week I played five matches. I played almost every day here. It's
not so much physically tiring but mentally tough," said Hrbaty.
Hrbaty broke Nadal's serve in the first game and quickly held his own to
go to a 2-0 lead, and Nadal struggled in his following two service games
but saved a total of five breaks points to bring the score to 4-2.
Then the Spaniard hit gear, and worked over Hrbaty's forehand with a
vicious single-mindedness of purpose to win the next four games and the
set.
Nadal took the first set 6-2 and was up 2-1 in the second set before
Hrbaty hit back and won the next four games including breaking Nadal's
serve twice.
Momentum-wise, once a pendulum starts swinging it often doesn't stop. In
the third set Nadal raced to a 3-0 lead but Hrbaty then came back
winning the next three games including breaking Nadal's serve to love.
Games then went with serve until Hrbaty broke Nadal under amazing
pressure from the Spaniard in the eleventh game to go up 6-5 with a big
fist pump to celebrate. In the next game Hrbaty served out the
tournament and the title 7-5 for his fifth career singles title and
second in successive weeks.
"I think that it was my first final and I was a little bit nervous,"
said Nadal who raced to catch a 5.30pm plane to Melbourne for the start
of the Australian Open where he plays a qualifier in the first round.
"The first match in every tournament is the most important and if you
can win that match nobody knows what will happen," said Nadal.
Regarding his opponents potential Hrbaty believed Nadal could make a
real impact on the international circuit.
"Nadal, it seems is going to be a great player. He could win at Roland
Garros. He could be good."
Both players said they would return to Auckland for the 50th anniversary
of the tournament next year.
