Zagreb´s PBZ Tour Always Lucky for Ivan Ljubicic

The ATP tour in Zagreb started with an award fund of 302,000 euros, and increased each year to reach 450,000 euros.

The ATP PBZ Indoors is being held for the fourth time in Zagreb, with a pool of prize funds totalling 450,000 euros. This year the tour is being held under the name “ATP World Tour 250” with the slogan “Tennis on the 16^th meridian”, where the world’s best players will perform.

Ivan Ljubicic, constant participant in finals

All of the best Croatian tennis players participate in the tour, of which only one has won the event. Ivan Ljubicic played in the final of the PBZ Indoors three times, and managed to win it in 2006, the first time the event took place. He played against the Austrian Stefan Koubek in the final, and in the next two finals he lost against Marcos Baghdatis and Sergij Stakhovsky.

In 2006 Ljubicic had big wins against Murray, Carlsen, Youzhni, Djokovic, and in the end Koubek. Marin Cilic made it to the second round where he lost from Seppi. The tour also brought a match between Karlovic and Ancic, where Karlovic won, only to lose against Koubek later.

In 2007, Croatia had four representatives of which Karlovic and Ljubicic went past the first round. Ivan made it to the final, but Karlovic could not beat Llorde in the second round.

At last year’s final there was a great surprise by Sergiy Stahovsky, who came to the tournament through the qualifications, and who beat Ljubicic in the final.

“Lucky loser” Sergiy Stahovsky

The Ukrainian Sergiy lost against the Slovenian Blaz Kavcic in the third round, but he entered the tournament as the “lucky loser” and started his path towards the title. In the first round he was better than Ivo Karlovic, then he later beat Viktor Troicki and Janko Tipsarevic. He then went on to beat Simone Bolleli, and then took the final against Ivan Ljubicic.

Sergiy Stahovsky recorded five of his seven ATP wins in Zagreb, which he achieved in 2008, and he mainly played at challengers.

Seven Croatians participated in the main tour at the PBZ Indoors in 2008, and five of them entered the second round. Skugor and Karlovic did not make it into the second round, who were beaten by Koubek and the winner Stahovsky.

Prize pool grows each year

The first tour had a prize pool of 302,000 euros, and each year it grew thanks to the praise and attendance, which led to larger investments. A year later the prize pool was 353,000 euros. The winner gained just over 58,000 euros, and they gained 175 points. In 2008 the PBZ Indoors offered 370,000 euros, only to rise to 450,000 euros the next year, which is a lot more than the first tour had.