TENNIS ROUNDUP : Stich Comes Home, Breaks 29-Year Drought in Germany

A wish came true for a tearful Michael Stich at Hamburg on Sunday, when he and become the first German in 29 years to win the German Open tennis tournament.

Stich fought off five set points and won the decisive third-set tiebreaker, then went on to beat unseeded Andrei Chesnokov of Russia, 6-3, 6-7 (7-1), 7-6 (9-7), 6-4.

“I’ve fulfilled my childhood dream,” Stich said in his victory speech. “I’ve come here with my family to watch this tournament for 15 or 20 years.”

Stich was born and grew up in Elmshorn, near Hamburg.

The last German champion of the event, held on the clay courts of the Rothenbaum club, was Wilhelm Bungert in 1964.

After splitting the first two sets, Stich trailed, 6-1, in the third-set tiebreaker before rallying. He then broke Chesnokov’s serve early in the fourth set and converted his fifth match point to win the $1.7 million tournament in 3 hours 12 minutes.

Stich, seeded sixth, earned his first clay-court tournament victory since Stuttgart in 1991, the year he also won at Wimbledon.

After the match, Stich leaped into the air and ran over to hug his wife, Jessica. In the process, he forgot to shake the loser’s hand.

Chesnokov began to leave the court, and Stich and officials chased him. Ranked No. 9 two years ago, Chesnokov had not appeared in a final since 1992.

“I haven’t been in a final in so long, I forgot there was a victory ceremony,” Chesnokov said.

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Spain’s Conchita Martinez won her first major tournament, beating crowd favorite Gabriela Sabatini, 7-5, 6-1, and denying her a fifth Italian Open women’s title.

Seeded sixth, Martinez had ousted No. 2 Martina Navratilova before beating third-seeded Sabatini for the title.

Martinez wore Sabatini down in a 1-hour 20-minute first set on the slow red clay court.

“More than mentally, I was tired physically,” Sabatini said.

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Jaime Yzaga of Peru repeated as champion of the USTA Men’s Clay Courts of Tampa by beating Richard Fromberg of Australia, 6-4, 6-2.