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    Saturday, May 04, 2024

    Ljubicic, Jankovic wrap up championships at Indian Wells

    Indian Wells, Calif. - Ivan Ljubicic had been in big finals before and always lost. Then getting beat in the first round in five consecutive tournaments last year had him thinking about doing something else.

    "I had my problems, like everybody else," he said.

    All that was forgotten Sunday when the Croatian outlasted Andy Roddick 7-6 (3), 7-6 (5) in a battle of big servers to win the BNP Paribas Open, earning his first ATP Masters 1000 title after three runner-up finishes.

    Ljubicic set up his fourth match point with the last of his 20 aces, then won with a serve that Roddick couldn't return. At 31, Ljubicic is the second-oldest winner at Indian Wells behind Jimmy Connors, who was five months older as the 1984 champion.

    "It was really a mind game," he 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."

    Roddick was trying to become the first American man to win at Indian Wells since 2001, but he trailed in both tiebreakers. He had beaten Ljubicic seven times in 10 meetings, winning their last match at Indian Wells in two tiebreakers in 2007.

    "I felt like I was winning my fair share of the rallies once we got into them," he 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."

    Jelena Jankovic had a much easier time in the women's final, defeating Caroline Wozniacki 6-2, 6-4 for her first title in seven months.

    Jankovic, the former top-ranked player from Serbia, dictated from the baseline throughout her 1 ½-hour match, hitting the lines and keeping Wozniacki on the run.

    Jankovic broke Wozniacki three times in the first set and again in the first game of the second set.

    "I wanted to be really aggressive, but at the same time patient, and not really go for too much or go over the limit with some balls," Jankovic said. "I waited for my opportunities, and when I had them, I took them."

    Wozniacki brought her coach, who is her father, on court once in each set, but it didn't help. She never found a solution to Jankovic's pinpoint power.

    "I tried to change it when I saw it was not going my way, but I just made a few too many errors at the important points," Wozniacki said.

    She held to trail 5-4 in the second set, prompting Jankovic to summon her coach.

    Jankovic then served out the match, setting up match point with a backhand down the line. Wozniacki's forehand return sailed long on the final point.

    "I was making a few too many errors and I didn't have too many first serves in," said Wozniacki, who won 19 of 30 first-serve points. "Normally, the other matches I set the points up with my service well. That didn't happen today. Then I was on the back foot and she was deciding."

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