Croatia’s Marin Cilic won his first title of the season and sixth overall on Sunday after beating Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 in the final of the St. Petersburg Open.
The 22nd-ranked player was playing his fourth final of the 2011 season but lost his past three attempts. Meanwhile, Tipsarevic has been recording fantastic wins in the later part of the season – having won titles in Kuala Lumpur and Moscow.
“I played the first two sets a little bit up and down and had some unforced errors,” Cilic said.
“But I played my best tennis in the third set. I lost three finals this year and all of them were in three sets. So today, when the match went into the third set, I was really into it to win,” he added.
