Cash Wins Twice In A Day To Set Up Ivanisevic Final

Pat Cash booked himself a place in his first ATP Champions Tour final for more than five years after completing two spectacular comeback victories on Saturday at the maiden Optima Open in Knokke, Belgium. The Australian will face Goran Ivanisevic in the final on Sunday.

First up on Saturday, Cash overcame the flamboyant Frenchman Henri Leconte. He withstood a dramatic Leconte resurgence and produced some miraculous volley winners to seal a 6-1, 6-7 (3), 11-9 (Champions' Tie Break) victory.

After a rest of no more than two hours, Cash then re-took to the court to face the former World Number One Bjorn Borg. The 1987 Wimbledon Champion looked understandably sluggish early on and that gave Borg the early advantage. At a set down Cash again sprung into action, tearing through the second set and the ensuing Champions Tie Break to win 2-6, 6-2, 10-8.

Cash was a happy man afterwards.“Any day you get to play Bjorn Borg is a fantastic day,” he said. “It was another really tight match this evening I think because our styles match up so well with me attacking and Bjorn hitting his amazing passing shots. Right now I’m pleased to have won but also very tired!”

The Australian predicts another battle against Ivanisevic in the final. “Tomorrow against Goran is going to be very tough,” he said. “I’m going to need to return as well as I can and if I can serve well myself and hold my serve then I think I’m in with a chance. Goran hits so hard though it’ll certainly be a challenge.”

Ivanisevic was also forced to work hard to earn his place in Sunday’s final. The 2001 Wimbledon Champion had to come back from a first set drubbing to defeat the French Davis Cup Captain Guy Forget 1-6, 7-6(5), 10-8 (Champions’ Tie Break).

Ahead of the final, Ivanisevic admitted that his main motivation is to overtake his rival Thomas Enqvist and finish 2010 atop the South African Airways Rankings.

“I really want to catch Enqvist,” he said. “If I win here I won’t be far behind and then hopefully I can overtake him later in the year. I was always so close to being World Number One during my playing career but never quite got there so to do it on the ATP Champions Tour again would be fantastic.”

As a consolation, Forget will have the chance to compete for third place in the Optima Open and 200 rankings points in Sunday’s play-off match against fellow Frenchman Leconte.

Matches in Knokke are played over the best of three sets, with a Champions’ Tie-break (first to 10 points with a clear advantage of two) to decide the winner.

After Knokke, the ATP Champions Tour will move on to Paris, France for the seventh annual Jean-Luc Lagardere Trophy at the Stade Coubertin (October 1-3), and following that will arrive at the Sichuan Internatinal Tennis Centre for the second Chengdu Open (October 21-24).