06.06.2009 14:08:36 | Jan Hajek from the Tennis Club AGROFERT Prostėjov triumphed in the final of UniCredit Czech Open in Prostejov, the tournament subsidized with 127.500 EUR. He defeated the Belgian Steve Darcis 6:2, 1:6, 6:4.
Twenty-five year old Hajek won the tournament for the second time in three years. This year he was a great surprise of the tournament as he was neither seeded nor admitted directly to the main competition but had to fight his way up from qualification. In the history of the tournament there are only a few players to win the tournament twice: Czechs Radek Stepanek and Bohdan Ulichran, and Richard Fromberg form Australia.
Hajek entered the match very impressively. He broke Darcis’ serve twice and with five successful games in a row won the first set in less than 30 minutes. “I was nervous at the beginning, I did not sleep very well today, I was thinking this match over and over ...,” said Hajek at a press conference after the match.
But Darcis pulled himself together in the second set. He hit balls with increased force and accuracy and Hajek fell into depression. “I am sorry I missed the beginning of he second set, I should have had to push on my opponent more strongly. The situation from our match in Ostrava repeated. I was too passive and Steve was better in the second set,” added Hajek who went to the bathroom after the set to get refreshed a little bit. “I calmed down there and told myself this was going to be my last set at the tournament and I was resolved to win.”
The Czech player delivered completely different performance in the last set. He was more concentrated and won three games in a row. But the way to the championship was still to be a tortuous one. Darcis did not give up even at the score of 2:5, on the contrary, he diverted one match point when serving and than managed to break another Hajek’s serve. However, in the end Hajek managed to turn his fourth match point into the victory in the whole tournament.
This victory pushed Hajek to the world’s second hundred in ATP ranking but not to the qualification in Wimbledon and he will have to go on at challengers on clay. His futures plans include participation at the tournaments in Kosice and Bytom in Poland.
How he evaluated the tennis week in Prostejov?
“It was great, I won eight matches. Each match was a great battle. It started with a duel against Robin Vik and finished today in the final. I am very happy I kept the shape throughout the whole tournament and unbelievably happy I managed to triumphed in the end.”
