January 17, 2025
By David Long at the ASB Bank Tennis Centre
NZoom

Dominik Hrbaty is once again the Heineken Open champion after defeating Spaniard Rafael Nadal in a three set thriller at Tennis Lane on Saturday afternoon.

Hrbaty came from a set down and 0-3 down in the third to win the match 4-6 6-2 7-5 in two and a quarter hours.

Nadal could only spasmodically recapture the form he's shown this week and suffered from nerves when leading in the third set, while Hrbaty's big match experience enabled him to get the winning break late in the match.

Hrbaty was in Auckland fresh from winning in Adelaide last week and is the current leader of the ATP Champions Race with this win, his second in the New Zealand ATP tournament.

The match was a topsy-turvey affair with neither player able to sustain a prolonged advantage.

Hrbaty broke serve in the first game of the match and Nadal struggled to hold serve in his next service game.

But Nadal was able to break back by winning points in some very long rallies and Hrbaty had another bad game when serving at 4-5 and before he knew it he had lost a set that was he really should have won.

The fourth game of the next set was huge, Nadal had two break points and it went to deuce five times before the Spaniard held serve, but Hrbaty was able to break in the next game as Nadal continued to struggle with his serve.

Hrbaty then made another break to lead 5-2 and after a long hold up while Nadal changed a shoe, the Slovakian held serve to love to square the final up at one set apiece.

It was then Nadal's turn to play the best tennis, holding serve in the first game to love then winning one off Hrbaty on the second break point and jumping in the air with joy upon doing so.

Hrbaty had two break points in the next game but put them both into the net, he later made another unforced error to be 0-3 down in the deciding set and looking in big trouble.

However that was when the match went back Hrbaty's way as he won 11 straight points and was back in the set at 3-3.

Nadal then looked to be out when at 15-40 down in the seventh game but then made a huge fight back to stay in contention.

Then at 5-5 Nadal started off with a double fault and was straight on the back foot. When Hrbaty later had a break point a long rally ensued before Nadal played a sublime forehand winner to win the point.

But he couldn't do the same when Hrbaty had another break point later in the game and the Slovakian had the vital break to be in a position to serve for the match.

Nadal kept in contention when a smash from the net made the game 30-30, but Hrbaty won the next two points to take the title and continue his fantastic run of 10 straight ATP Tour wins.