2007 애들레이드 남자단식 결승
[1] Novak Djokovic (SRB) d [WC] Chris Guccione (AUS) 6-3 6-7(6) 6-4
Djokovic edges Guccione for title
7 January - The youngest player in the world’s top 20, Novak Djokovic, won his third career title and ended the winning streak of Australian Chris Guccione at the Next Generation Adelaide International.
Despite being ranked 137 places lower than his opponent, Guccione was not out-classed by any means and, despite losing the first set 6-3, fought back to take the second in a tiebreak 7-6(6).
Djokovic, aged 19, captured two early service breaks in the final set and looked like he would cruise to victory. The Victorian had other ideas, clawing back a break and saving two championship points, before going down 6-4 in the decider.
Supported by an extremely vocal Serbian group in the crowd, Djokovic said it was a difficult match.
“It was really pretty special [win] and one of the reasons is that I didn't feel comfortable on the court today, I was really struggling all the time, because Chris is the kind of player who puts some pressure on me because he's winning his service games pretty easy.
“In the end it was really tight. I was - how we tennis players say - choking in the end. I had three points for a 5-1 lead in the third set and I lost all of them, and in the last game I think he had two or three break points for 5-5 and I have to say I was lucky.
“It's been a great week for me and I just hope that I will recover in the next couple of days next week so I can be ready for the most important tournament, Aussie Open.
“I have to congratulate Chris for a great match, a great performance, a great week, I mean he won against Gasquet which is not easy, and a lot of good players. Always in Australia he's playing well and I hope he gets to top 100 pretty quickly because he deserves that,” he said.
Despite the loss, Guccione had plenty of positives to draw from the week, not least his projected ranking improvement to approximately 110 in the world.
“It was good, we both got off to a slow start. We had a couple of chances and the match just got better and better.”
Guccione had four break point opportunities in the second game of the first set but was unable to convert any of them.
“[I was] a little bit annoyed. He was very nervous at the start, missing some easy balls, but I missed some crucial returns on the break points and that's the way it goes, you can't win every point.”
Tonight Guccione will fly to Sydney, ready to take on that tournament’s top seed – Spaniard Rafael Nadal – in the first round.
“It's a tough draw, I've had a couple of rough ones in Sydney, but I've come through the other ones so hopefully I can do it again. It's a big thing to make a final and beat five top 100 players in a row. Playing Nadal I've got nothing to lose - if I go down I'll at least be playing my game and I'll know I'm hitting the ball well for Aussie Open.”
Australia could still boast a winner on finals day, with South Australian Todd Perry combining with former Wimbledon doubles champion Wesley Moodie to take out the doubles. They defeated Djokovic and Czech Radek Stepanek in a thrilling final which ended 15-13 in the match tiebreak.
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