Martin Captures Stockholm Title

Todd Martin capitalized on Thomas Johansson's sloppy serving and beat the Swede 6-3, 6-4, 6-4 to win the Stockholm Open Sunday.

Martin

"I was very confident before the final, because I've played very well in the past few weeks," said Martin, who beat world No. 3 Patrick Rafter and No. 5 Andre Agassi en route to the semifinals in the Paris Open a week ago. "Neither of us played our best tennis, but I was fortunate to start each set well."

Johansson, the highest-ranked Swede in the world at No. 18, played his worst match of the tournament.

"It was a pity that I couldn't play better in the final," he said.

For Martin, it was his second ATP title this year. He also won a tournament on clay in Barcelona in April. Martin, unseeded and ranked 21st in the world, earned $112,000 for his seventh career title.

Johansson became a hero two months ago when he clinched a final berth in the Davis Cup for Sweden. But Johansson -- who has one of the hardest serves in the game -- just couldn't get his usual strong serves going against Martin.

Martin didn't serve well either in the first set, which featured five service breaks, including four in a row. But Johansson only managed to hold his serve once in the first set.

"It was a very strange match," Martin said. "I started off very well and Thomas started off very poorly. He was nervous. And the fact that he was a little nervous made me a little nervous. That's not the type of tennis you'd expect us to play, especially on this (fast) court.

"I was fortunate to start every set early with the break."

© 1998 SportsLine USA, Inc. All rights reserved