ZAGREB

On Sunday the PBZ Zagreb Indoors crowned a new champion when Guillermo García-López captured the title of the tournament’s tenth edition beating Andreas Seppi 7-6, 6-3 in their fifth meeting on the ATP World Tour to become the first Spaniard winning in the capital of Croatia.

In the second 30-over-final of the season, García-López took an even opening set without any breaks in the tie-break after exactly one hour of play. The Spaniard was more aggressive in the deciding moments but had to suffer the first service loss in the match in the fifth game of the second set. Yet, García-López, who appeared in his seventh ATP final, could get the break immediately back and gained the decisive break in the eighth game to eventually close the match out after one hour and 36 minutes.

Centre Court at Dom Sportova

Guillermo Garcia-Lopez was more than happy to win the final

Garcia-López defeated Seppi for the first time on the ATP Tour

Garcia-López gained his fourth ATP career title

The 30-year-old Italian was understandably disappointed that he missed the chance to capture his first title since Moscow 2012. “It was a difficult match. In the first set I was always up but I never got the chance to get a little bit more away. I do not know why. The first games, Guillermo served well and I also made some easy mistakes at his service games and I couldn’t play like I wanted. He changed the rhythm and maybe I also lost a little bit of concentration at the middle of the second set,” Seppi analysed afterwards.

“Of course it is always disappointing if you are only one step away of winning a title. I reached the final here with some good fighting spirit and this is the positive side of this tournament. Tomorrow I’ll got to Rotterdam. There is not so much time to adapt. I do have to accept the conditions over there and again I will go for every point and we will see what will happen,” the 30-year old Italian added facing Robin Haase in the opening round in the Netherlands.

Andreas Seppi in the final press conference

García-López was overwhelmed winning his fourth career title. “You do not win tournaments every week. This is only my fourth title, so of course this is very emotional for me. You work very hard for moments like this and winning a title is nice and special moment,” the freshly crowned Zagreb champion told.

“The matches I played with Andreas before were always difficult. His game doesn’t suit me. He plays very solid and I cannot find the spot, where I could get in. Today, I tried to put some pressure on him and I played point by point all the match. He was forced to change his rhythm, which was good for me giving me some slices and higher balls back as well,” García-López was happy to gain his first victory over Seppi. “When I get back to the hotel maybe I go to the bar and have some drinks because I think I deserved it – but carefully because I play in Rotterdam next week,” the world number 33 described his way of celebrating tonight with a smile.

Garcia-López lifted the trophy in Zagreb

Guillermo Garcia-López is the first Spaniard winning in Zagreb

Earlier the day, the last Croatian left in the draws, Marin Draganja, celebrated his second ATP title winning the doubles tournament alongside his partner Henri Kontinen. The second seeds defeated the unseeded French-Indian combination of Fabrice Martin and Purav Raja in straight sets 6-4, 6-4 in 64 minutes.

“We played the lowest ranked pair in the final but it wasn’t that easy to win the match. We also had a bit of pressure but with a bit of joking the pressure went away and we had a lot of fun during the final with some funny points,” Draganja was satisfied with their performance.

Draganja and Kontinen won their first title together

The tournament’s future, however, is uncertain at the moment. In the final news conference, tournament director Branimir Horvat spoke about the financial difficulties the event is facing. “Without the support of the City of Zagreb as well as the government, we will not be able to host another edition. So we have to talk in the nearer future and hopefully we will find a way to get a solution. Concerning this week, we are very happy that we could welcome all the Croatian players and that we could enjoy a great week of tennis,” Horvat described the situation.

Final News conference in Zagreb with Branimir Horvat, Marin Cilic, Goran Ivanisevic and Ivan Ljubicic (from left)