13/10/2008 3:50 AM
David Nalbandian has completed an efficient week at the Stockholm Open by clinching the title with a three-set victory over home favourite Robin Soderling.
Top seed Nalbandian, the only top-30 player in the draw, came into the match having not dropped a set in five matches and, although he lost that record, still had too much for Soderling, winning 6-2 5-7 6-3.
Nalbandian now has a 9-8 record in ATP finals after claiming his second title this year, the first one coming in Buenos Aires in February.
He also finished runner-up in Acapulco the following week.
Both players held their serve in the third set until the seventh game, when Nalbandian broke to take a 4-3 lead on his fourth break point after Soderling netted a backhand.
The Argentinean then held to love to lead 5-3 and wrapped up the match with another break after Soderling double-faulted on match point.
In Vienna, Phillip Petzschner became the third qualifier to win an event on the ATP Tour this season after beating Gael Monfils in the final of the Bank Austria-Tennis tournament.
The German overcame the eighth-seeded Frenchman 6-4 6-4. He is the first qualifier to win the event since Belgian Filip Dewulf defeated Thomas Muster in 1995.
Petzschner follows in the footsteps of Japan's Kei Nishikori at Delray Beach and Frenchman Gilles Simon in Casablanca as the only players in 2008 to have qualified for an event and then won it.
Petzschner entered this event with just four victories on the Tour this year, but got off to a good start by upsetting Swiss top seed Stanislas Wawrinka in the first round.
Monfils, a semi-finalist this season at Roland Garros, Nottingham and Bangkok, was playing in the sixth final of his career and was seeking a second title after winning at Sopot in 2005.
The victory also moved Petzschner into the top 100 for the first time.
ATP Tennis, Final of the If Stockholm Open, Sweden
1-David Nalbandian (Argentina) def. 4-Robin Soderling (Sweden) 6-2 5-7 6-3
ATP Tennis, Final of the Bank Austria Tennis Trophy, Vienna
Philipp Petzschner (Germany) def. 8-Gael Monfils (France) 6-4 6-4