HAMBURG, July 30, 2017
Leonardo Mayer captures his second ATP World Tour title in a familiar place, lifting the trophy of the German Open Tennis Championships in Hamburg for the second time. The 30-year-old from Argentina fought past local favourite Florian Mayer 6-4, 4-6, 6-3 in Sunday’s final.
In front of 7,500 spectators on centre court, the World No. 138 sent down 10 aces, winning 72 per cent of his first service points. Leonardo gained the decisive break in the fifth game of the final set to serve out in the following. He entered the main draw as lucky loser and leaves the Rothenbaum as champion for the second time after 2014.
Leonardo Mayer with his family
“It’s amazing to win in Hamburg again,” said Leonardo, who was joined by his wife Milagros and six-months-old son Valentino after the match. “It’s like home here and I feel very comfortable. I like the city and I always play well here.
“It’s something special about this sport. I lost in qualifying and then beat the No. 1 seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas in the first round. It also happened last week in Umag with Rublev. Now I took the opportunity.”
Florian Mayer was bidding to become the first German to win in Hamburg since Michael Stich in 1993. The 33-year-old right-hander was going for his third ATP World Tour title and his first since 2016 Halle.
“I’m very happy with my performance this week, especially to be in the final of a 500 tournament,” he said. “It was a big match and a big fight. A very nice week for me. Maybe I got a little tired at the end and Leo played incredibly well. He deserved to win,” Florian Mayer said.
Croats Win First Team Title
Earlier in the day, Ivan Dodig and Mate Pavic clinched their first team title, winning the doubles final against Pablo Cuevas from Uruguay and Marc López of Spain 6-3, 6-4. The top seeds from Croatia teamed up for the first time since losing the final in Zagreb in 2013 and closed out the match after one hour and 15 minutes.
Ivan Dodig and Mate Pavic
“We had also played well before Hamburg, reaching two finals in Zagreb. In the first matches, we just needed to feel the chemistry between us on court again.
“It was a tough match today with a couple of breaks in the second set. Overall, we played very well and we served better than our opponents,” Pavic told.
“It was fun to play with Mate again. We played a great level this week. We had a couple of tough matches,” added Dodig, who advanced to the semi-finals in singles last week in Umag.
“Both are nice achievements. For the last years I have always competed in singles and doubles. My heart still wants to play singles and I feel that I can still compete with the good guys. Unfortunately the body gives the sign that this is not possible anymore. I played more than 100 matches every year. It’s time to think about it, how to enjoy playing tennis without destroying your body.”
Dodig lifted his eighth doubles career trophy and will team-up with Pavic in Washington again.
