Marin Cilic of Croatia denied Tommy Haas his 16th career ATP Tour title on Sunday after the fifth seed cruised past the top seed 6-3, 6-4 in the final of the PBZ Zagreb Indoors 2014 Croatia. This is Cilic’s fourth title victory in his home event.
“I feel great after winning it last year and winning it twice more in ’09 and ’10,” said Cilic. “It feels great again to win here at home. The week was really good. It’s going to help my confidence and my game, especially in the indoor season. I’m going to head to Rotterdam now and I’m looking forward to keep playing with good form there.”
The defending champion won €77,315 in prize money and 250 ranking points.
“Overall I think I played really well,” Cilic added. “I served good today even though my percentage wasn’t too high especially in the first set. I felt the best this week. That’s a positive thing. I haven’t lost too much energy, which is important for next week too.”
Haas is now 15-13 in ATP Tour finals and will bring home €40,720 and 150 points.
“First of all, congratulations to Marin,” Haas said. “I think he played a solid match. He served well when he had to. I started with a break, didn’t feel I was playing my best tennis in the beginning when I needed to step up and put more pressure on him. He played the big points better with good shots and deserved to win.”
