Serb Janko Tipsarevic captured his maiden title at the Malaysian Open on Sunday, beating Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus 6-4, 7-5. Tipsarevic, seeded third, had been the only Top 20 player without an ATP title after losing his first four finals, but finally landed the top prize by beating 2006 Australian Open finalist Baghdatis at the Putra Stadium in just over two hours. “It feels great to win. I think I deserve it now, maybe I didn’t before,” said the 27-year-old Tipsarevic. “I’m glad to have won a title in a nice place and against a good player, a former Grand Slam finalist. I could not be happier. “I knew I had to play well overall. In my other finals I was overly aggressive in two of them and passive in the other two.
“Neither strategy is the way to win. I knew I needed to feel my game and do the right thing in the important moments. That’s what I did but it was high pressure in this match.” Wild card Baghdatis, once a member of the Top 10 but now ranked 60th, was unable to hold onto his early lead as Tipsarevic clawed back the momentum, winning with nine aces and five breaks of serve. The Cypriot has fallen 40 ranking spots since January but is fighting back after his performance this week.
Ex-champion Graf happy to avoid limelight BERLIN: Tennis legend Steffi Graf said Sunday she is happy to have shunned the limelight to focus on her career as a mother, 12 years after retiring. The 42-year-old quit in 1999 having won 22 Grand Slam titles during her career to be one of the most successful tennis players of all time. She married former tennis star Andre Agassi in 2001 and the couple live in Las Vegas, in the USA, with their children Jaden Gil, nine, and Jaz Elle, eight. “My job now is primarily to be a mother,” Graf told German daily the Berliner Morgenpost on a rare visit to the capital to open a tea shop. Graf said she opts for fewer public appearances as they still make her nervous. “At public appearances, I am often nervous and have butterflies in my stomach,” she said. “I am not used to such appearances any more and I am only rarely at things like this.” Despite more than a decade away from professional sport, the German admits she has not lost the habit of staying in shape. “If I have the feeling that I need time for myself, I do sports,” she said. “It still plays an important role in my life. I don’t do it quite so often, but still a couple of times a week.”
