It has not been a good couple of years for Ivan Ljubicic. The 31-year old Croatian tennis player had reached major tennis finals in the past but he had always lost. Losing in a couple of first rounds consecutively in the past year has also not made things any easier. However, a ray of light came through on Sunday, when Ljubicic slammed his way through Andy Roddick to win the BNP Paribas Open, his first ATP Masters title after three consecutive runner-up finishes.
He used the last of his 20 aces to set up his fourth match point and got the win in the bag when Andy Roddick could not return his serve. This victory makes his the second-oldest winner at Indian Wells right after Jimmy Connors who was the 1984 winner.
“It was really a mind game,” Ljubicic said.”When you have two big serves, not a lot of rallies happening, it’s a very mental match. I was fortunate enough to be more relaxed by the end of the match.”
This was also a hopeful game for Roddick who was aiming to become the first American player to win Indian Wells since 2001. However, he trailed in both the tiebreakers. Roddick had previously beaten Ljubicic in their last Indian Wells meeting in 2007.
“I felt like I was winning my fair share of the rallies once we got into them,” Roddick said. “I just ran into a guy who served great on the big points. Unfortunately that’s probably the one thing that I don’t have control over out there.”