Haarhuis Wins Masters; USTA Cuts Deal with Tennis Channel

Posted on December 11, 2006

Haarhuis Beats Ivanisevic for 2nd Straight Senior Masters

Dutchman Paul Haarhuis, who didn't win a single title this year on the senior tour, won his second consecutive year-ending Blackrock Masters title Sunday in London with a 7-6(4), 4-6, 10-7 win over Goran Ivanisevic.

The first set went to a tiebreak, where Ivanisevic tried a crowd-pleasing between-the-legs play when he had plenty of time to go with a more conservative selection.

"It's me, an idiot," Ivanisevic said. "It just comes into my mind that I have to do it and usually it works -- but not today."

Ivanisevic had won their three previous meetings in third-set tiebreaks, including one match in the round robin, and led 5-2 in the breaker before Haarhuis took charge.

"I'm thrilled to be back here and winning it again," Haarhuis said. "I feel a bit guilty for taking out all the big stars, but it's a competitive tour and we want to win. I've lost some times to Goran and to Rios, but maybe I will become a bigger star if I win this BlackRock Masters a few more times."

Ivanisevic said nerves played a part, including some key double faults.

"I was serving well most of the time but people don't realize that it is not easy," Ivanisevic said. "It was the final -- sometimes you get a little nervous, even now. But it's ok. I had a lot of fun this week."

Haarhuis only qualified for the year-end finale to the Merrill Lynch Tour of Champions because Richard Krajicek withdrew with a knee injury.

Final regular-season rankings:

WORLD SENIOR RANKINGS presented by Tennis-X.com
(Final 2006 rankings)

1. Marcelo Rios (2480 pts.)
2. John McEnroe (1545)
3. Jim Courier (1280)
4. Goran Ivanisevic (1225)
5T. Sergi Bruguera (990)
5T. Pat Cash (990)
7. Wayne Ferreira (980)
8. Thomas Muster (955)
9T. Todd Martin (850)
9T. Cedric Pioline (850)
10. Magnus Larsson (775)

The World Senior Rankings presented by Tennis-X.com is a cumulative ranking for senior tour players combining results from the Merrill Lynch Tour of Champions in Europe, and the Outback Champions Series in the U.S.

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