Today, Saturday, the big finale of the Hypo Group Tennis International 08, powered by bet-at-home-com, took place on the centre court of the Werzer Arena in Pörtschach. And the weather gods for once had mercy on Tournament Director Ronnie Leitgeb, the spectators and, of course, the players. Bright sunshine turned the finale of the tournament into a tennis-festival.

The tournament day started with the doubles final at 12.00 where No 1 seeded Brazilians Marcelo Melo/Andre Sa were challenged by their opponents from Austria, US-Open-Champion Julian Knowle (with Simon Aspelin) and Jürgen Melzer. The South-Americans had already reached the semi-finals in Memphis and won the tournament in Costa do Sauipe while Knowle and Melzer had only recently decided to rekindle their doubles-partnership. Which one wouldn’t have been able to tell the way the Austrians played the first set. Following break and re-break early into the set the match saw no advantage to either pair until it was US-Open-winner Knowle who lost his serve for 5:7. The second set also showed even, if not always high-class, tennis. But when Knowle saved a match-point at 5:6 the Austrians started to play great tennis and won the subsequent tie-breaker superiorly by 7:6(3). Yet Melo/Sa then decided the final champions tie-breaker in their favor by 13:11 after a hard fight and crowned themselves Doubles Champions of Pörtschach.

Jürgen Melzer drew the following balance after the match: “We actually played very well. The tie-breaker in the second set was the best tennis we’ve ever played together. If you lose the Champions Tie-Breaker by a hair’s breadth it is simply bad luck. But I am glad that I played here in Pörtschach for it helped me to find out of the low of the last weeks – even though I’m naturally disappointed by having lost the final. Tomorrow I’ll fly to Paris where I’ll play the doubles with Alexander Peya while Julian will compete with his usual partner Simon Aspelin.”

In the highly anticipated final the No 1 of the tournament, Nikolay Davydenko (RUS), faced Argentinian title holder, at the same time No 2, Juan Monaco. Even though Davydenko, being No 4 in the world, could count as favourite on paper one had to remember that Monaco had thrown the Russian out of the tournament last year in the quarter-finals of Pörtschach in three sets. A fact that Davydenko obviously hadn’t forgotten either since he started energetically into the match and controlled Monaco from the first rally on, which resulted in an immediate break of the first service of the Argentinian. Following a further break for 4:1, Davydenko served the set out to 6:2.

At the beginning of set two the Russian had his left upper thigh treated and continued playing with a bandage. Monaco took advantage of his opponent‘s slight impediment, managed two breaks (for 2:0 and 4:0) and took the second set home (by 6:2) despite a re-break by Davydenko for 4:1. But the man from Severodonezk fought on, like one expects of him, and got back into the match while Juan Monaco more and more lost the thread and his self-confidence. Three breaks in the third set later and after 2 hours 5 minutes overall Nikolay Davydenko had dethroned the title holder and crowned himself Champion of the Hypo Group Tennis International for the third time after 2005 and 2006 by 6:2,2:6 and 6:2.

A happy Nikolay Davydenko said after the triumph: “It was all in the head. I played fabulous during the first set but then got into problems with my upper thigh. This bothered me more mentally than physically. I am very happy to have won such a tournament just before the French Open. It boosts my self-confidence and gives me strength. I’ve won three times here now. I’ll come back next year – and hope for a fourth time.“

Rather exhausted, Juan Monaco explained his defeat: “When hitting a few balls prior to the match I injured a finger which hampered me at least in the first set. The second set was obviously okay but during the third one I got rather tired. Niko chased me left to right. I tried my best but it simply wasn’t enough. This week was nevertheless a very important preparation for Paris.”

In-between the finals fans witnessed the highlight before the highlight. Argentinian tennis legend Guillermo Vilas – four-times Grand Slam winner with 62 singles titles to his account – came onto the centre court together with eternal Carintian tennis idol Hans Kary. Soon an entertaining double ensued to the acclamation of the fans, where the former No 2 in the world played at the side of 15-year-old Carinthian tennis-talent Patrick Ofner while Hans Kary supported the equally talented Jason Peter Platzer (13 years) – thus offering the youths the opportunity to breathe ATP-centre court air for the first time. And aside two tennis legends, to boot.

Shortly before the beginning of the finals, Tournament Director Ronnie Leitgeb drew a balance of the 15th edition of the Hypo Group Tennis International, presented by bet-at-home.com, in Pörtschach today.

“The rain was a real spoilsport almost throughout the tournament week. The weather couldn’t have been any worse. That we still managed to keep up the schedule to some extent is a kind of miracle. For this I would like to heartily thank all involved, the ATP, the players, our team, but also the media and the spectators. This year’s attendance obviously remained below our expectations. We will only be able to announce an exact figure after accounting the advance sale figures. Fact is that we have sold more tickets on the spot than last year. We also didn’t have any free-of-charge-activities.

Regarding the sportive side I am more than satisfied with the tournament. We saw a lot of very good matches. Both the No 1 and the No 2 reached the final – that is always the best that can happen to a tournament. And we were able to help Jürgen Melzer – in regard to Paris – a bit to overcome his low.

A lot has been talked about and written on the future of the tournament. It is certain that the next weeks and months will see a lot of negotiations. Thereby an overall tennis-solution stands in the foreground which also must involve the Davis Cup and the FED Cup. Regarding this there also will be cooperation talks with ÖTV President Prof. Dr. Ernst Wollner. As president of the Carinthian Tennis Federation I am naturally interested in a Carinthian solution for the future of the tournament.”