Enqvist Continues Dominance With Chengdu Title

Thomas Enqvist continued his 100% record on the ATP Champions Tour in 2009 by beating Goran Ivanisevic in the final of the inaugural Chengdu Open to win his third title of the year.

His 7-5, 6-2 win extended the Swede’s lead at the top of the South African Airways Champions Tour Rankings. Afterwards, Enqvist explained what makes the ATP Champions Tour so special.

“It’s all the good parts of tennis,” he said.

“You don’t have the stress anymore, you don’t have the pressure anymore, you just go out there and have fun. Obviously, when you’re on the court, you want to do well, but the most important thing is that you enjoy yourself and you give the crowd a good match.”

This was the first year that an event had been played in Chengdu, China, and all of the players came away with a great impression.

“I had five fantastic days here,” said Enqvist. “The court is very nice to play on, I had four great matches and I really enjoyed myself out on the court. Everybody has been treating us really nice so hopefully we can come back and play next year.”

Despite his disappointment in the final, Ivanisevic added: “This is one of the greatest stadiums I’ve ever played in in my life, and the people are very friendly - they really enjoy that we are here and we enjoy to be here. For me it was great that I was with two of my greatest idols in my group. First Bjorn Borg and then John McEnroe. Hopefully I can come back next year.”

Former World No.1 Yevgeny Kafelnikov finished in third place, beating Pat Cash 7-5, 6-3.

The ATP Champions Tour culminates in London at the Royal Albert Hall where Ivanisevic and Cash will do battle with Pat Rafter, Stefan Edberg, Greg Rusedski, Cedric Pioline, Mark Philippoussis and Younes El Aynaoui. The event takes place 1-6 December.

In 2010, new events in Delray Beach, Florida (February 20-23) and Zurich, Switzerland (March 9-13) have already been added to the calendar.

To qualify to play on the ATP Champions Tour, players must have been either a World No.1, Grand Slam singles finalist or a singles player on a Davis Cup-winning team. Each event can also invite two wild card entrants of their choice.

For latest scores, gossip and updates, follow us on Twitter. To view the order of play and the round-robin groups from Chengdu, click on Results. You can also view the latest South African Airways Champions Tour Rankings.