F-Lo By KO: Lopez Claims Second Career Title

(February 7, 2010) Feliciano Lopez waited nearly six years for another title shot and was in no mood to prolong the hold-up.

Refusing to press pause on his serve-and-volley tactics, Lopez attacked relentlessly to power past first-time finalist Stephane Robert, 7-5, 6-1 in today's SA Tennis Open final in Johannesburg.

Lopez lashed 11 aces and did not face a break point in snapping a near six-year title drought to capture his second career championship. It was his first title since Vienna in 2004. Lopez, who raised his final record to 2-4, was playing his first title match since the 2008 Dubai final.

"In the first set I was a little nervous. I had so many break points, but I wasn't taking my chances," said Lopez. "Once I took the first set I felt confident and my game started working."

The 39th-ranked Spaniard denied top-seeded Gael Monfils in Saturday's semifinals, 3-6, 6-1, 7-6(1). Robert upset second-seeded David Ferrer, 7-5, 6-4, in his first career match against a top-20 player.

The eighth-seeded Frenchman could not make any serious inroads into Lopez's service games today. The left-handed Lopez owns one of tennis' most lethal slice serves on the ad side and used that to effectively drag Robert off the main frame field of play today.

The 28-year-old Lopez raised his record to 7-2 with his losses coming to Richard Gasquet in the opening round of Sydney and to Andy Roddick in the third round of the Australian Open.

The 29-year-old Robert entered this event with a career-high rank of No. 100. He had never even been beyond an ATP quarterfinal until this week. Robert fell behind 0-5 in the second set and never found adequate breathing space.

"You know, I was under pressure all the time," said Robert. "My only chance was to get to a tie breaker and hope I could win the set that way. It was unfortunate how the break happened, but that is tennis."

Photo Credit: Mark Peterson/Corleve