St. Petersburg, Russia (Sports Network) - Martin Klizan of Slovakia knocked
off Italy's Fabio Fognini to win the St. Petersburg Open crown for his first
career ATP World Tour title.
The third-seeded Klizan earned a 6-2, 6-3 triumph in Sunday's final. He
entered this week's event after a fourth-round appearance at the U.S. Open,
during which he toppled French star Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the second round.
After taking out top-seeded Mikhail Youzhny in Saturday's semifinals, Sunday's
match was much easier for Klizan. Following the nearly four-hour marathon
against the Russian crowd favorite, the 45th-ranked Klizan needed only 69
minutes to down Fognini.
Klizan won the opening four games of the match to set the tone and closed the
match by winning the final three games. He wound up breaking Fognini six times
and had his own serve broken twice.
Fognini, seeded fourth this week, was appearing in his second final. He lost
to Gilles Simon in the Bucharest title match back in April.
Klizan, the first Slovakian to win an ATP Tour event since Dominik Hrbaty in
2004, also became the first player to win his maiden title in 2012. He earned
a first prize of $70,365.
The Sports Network