Sunday 11th February

by Barry Wood

Patience is a virtue, they say, and Sybille Bammer has shown plenty. Resilience too, on Sunday, as she came from behind to beat Gisela Dulko 7-5 3-6 7-5 to win the first title of her 11-year career at 26 years old. And she saved three match points when serving at 5-3 in the third set to do it.

The match took just five minutes under three hours, and was a high-quality battle from beginning to end. Even though Dulko said she almost melted in the afternoon heat. "It was so hot in the beginning," she said. "During the week I never played at three. I always was playing late and today the first set I was dead. Then I fought a lot and came back, but it was a tough match."

It certainly appeared as if Dulko was on the way to winning her first title, having already finished as runner-up in Hobart back in January 2005. She looked confident and fresh, and yet she lost. As for the match points, she had regrets about only one of them.

"The only one I played not so good was when I had an easy forehand and had the chance to be aggressive and go to the net but I had doubts," she said. Instead, Bammer rose superbly to the challenge and claimed the final four games.

"I feel great and I'm very happy. It's one of the happiest days of my life," said Bammer. "It was a really tough match and I was lucky, but when I was down in the third I said, 'okay, I'm down but I'll keep fighting and try to give my best'. Both of us wanted to win and it was a big fight, but unfortunately only one can win because I think today we were both winners.

"Today I didn't feel so good. I wasn't so relaxed like in the first two days, but I was fighting and tried to make her run. She was playing really good topspin balls, heavy spins and it bounced very high and it was very difficult for me to play my game.

"I tried to keep fighting and tried to play a little bit more aggressive, because from 2-0 to 2-4 in the third set I was playing a bit too slow and she was playing good with fast balls and she made me run with short angles and she was really aggressive."

With a previous semi-final in Pattaya and a quarter-final in Bangkok, Bammer has many of the most successful moments of her career in Thailand. And that's because she feels comfortable.

"I really enjoy Thailand," she said. "It's a very nice country, the people are very nice, I like the weather, the food, and it's always a great hotel and courts. I am in very good physical shape so I feel it (the heat and humidity) is a little advantage for me, that my opponent is tired and I'm still okay."

For Dulko, there was some consolation in the knowledge that she had played well during the week.

"It was a really tough match, I think the longest one I have ever played. It was unbelievably close, but you never know in tennis until the last ball is over," she said. "I feel a little bit disappointed of course. I had a few match points and was close to winning the title, but she did a good effort.

"Anyway, I'm happy I played a final again. I feel good, so it was a good week. Even if I lost and had the chance to win my first title I feel happy inside because I did the best I could.

"I felt of course that I had it. I thought it was a little bit bad luck because inside I felt I deserved maybe to win, but she was there, she fought, she didn't give me a free point at that moment."

The doubles title went to Nicole Pratt of Australia and Italian partner Mara Santangelo, who beat the Taiwan pair Yung-Jan Chan and Chia-Jung Chuang 6-4 7-6(4).