'Lucky Loser' Stakhovsky Wins at Zagreb

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP) — Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine won his first ATP title Saturday, defeating top-seeded Ivan Ljubicic of Croatia 7-5, 6-4 and becoming the first "lucky loser" to capture a tournament in 17 years.

Stakhovsky, ranked 209th, is only the fourth man in tour history to achieve the feat. The previous player was Argentina's Christian Miniussi in Sao Paulo, Brazil, in 1991.

A lucky loser enters the main draw of a tournament from the qualifying field at the last minute because a player is unable to compete.

Stakhovsky came into the tournament with a 6-13 match record for his career. He faced only one break point Saturday and improved to 5-0 this season.

He had not played on the main tour since San Jose, Calif., more than a year ago and his previous best showing in eight attempts was a quarterfinal appearance in Milan, Italy, in 2005.

Ljubicic was his third seeded victim following victories over No. 2 Ivo Karlovic and No. 8 Janko Tipsarevic.