By Ossian Shine
London - Wildcard Goran Ivanisevic stunned third seed Pat Rafter 6-3 3-6 6-3 2-6 9-7 in a nerve-jangling Wimbledon final on Monday to complete the most extraordinary comeback in the history of men's tennis.
The 29-year-old, who lost three Wimbledon finals in the 1990s, won the title on his fourth match point when Rafter netted a return.
Ivanisevic, who said this week he felt it was his destiny to win the title, burst into tears and climbed into the players' box to embrace his father.
Ivanisevic is the first Croatian to win the sport's most prestigious title and the first player to win one of the four Grand Slam crowns after entering on a wildcard. Rafter also lost last year's final, to Pete Sampras.
"I don't know if it is a dream and I'm going to wake up and someone is going to tell me you didn't win Wimbledon again," Ivanisevic said.
"This is a dream for me all my life." The champion wins £500 000 (about R5,28-million) and Rafter half that amount.
Ivanisevic was two points from defeat in the final set, 6-7 and 0-30 down, in front of a raucous Centre Court but he recovered to set up two break points in the following game.
He won the game with a searing forehand return of serve and, after slipping 15-30 behind on his own serve, his 27th ace set up match point. With tears in his eyes, Ivanisevic served a double fault.
On his second match point, Ivanisevic served another double fault and Rafter then saved a third with a superb lobbed return. But the Croatian made no mistake on his fourth.
Ivanisevic, ranked 125 at the start of the championships, thought of giving up tennis earlier this year because of a shoulder injury and his poor form.
He had won only nine matches in 2001 before organisers gave him a wildcard entry, allowing him to avoid having to qualify. Rafter has said this is probably his last Wimbledon.
Rafter, who lost last year's final to Pete Sampras, seemed nervous in the first set in front of a boisterous Centre Court crowd, many of whom had queued all night to reserve their place for the "People's Final".
Ivanisevic's famed serve let him down in the second set which Rafter took with a break in the second game.
Superb backhand returns helped Ivanisevic break Rafter in the sixth game of the third set as normal service returned on his delivery, and he took a two sets to one lead for the first time in his four finals.
As the crowd frenzy reached a peak, Rafter earned two break points in the sixth game of the fourth set but Ivanisevic saved them both. A second serve "ace" down the middle was ruled wide on Rafter's third break point and Ivanisevic threw his racket on the court and kicked at the net, before raging at the umpire.
Rafter, twice the US Open champion, kept his cool to take the match into a decider.
Early in the final set the Croatian broke the record for aces at Wimbledon - 206 - which he set in 1992 on the way to a final defeat by Andre Agassi - and the set went with serve until the penultimate game.
Fans swathed in the national flags of Australia and Croatia, plus hordes of Britons sneaking the day off work, had flooded into the All England Club for the final.
It was the first time a men's singles final at Wimbledon started on the third Monday of the championships.
In 1988 Swede Stefan Edberg had to complete his final win over Boris Becker on Monday after rain suspended play midway through the first set on Sunday - but on that occasion, Sunday tickets were valid for the following day.
Tickets on Monday were sold on a first come, first served basis. - Reuters