Ancic wins St Petersburg tennis title

He's tall and has a decent serve, and even though he's still no Goran Ivanisavic, Croatian Mark Ancic pulled off quite an upset when he won the St Petersburg tennis title on Sunday. Ancic defeated defending champion Thomas Johansson of Sweden in straight sets, 7-5 7-6.

The victory kept Ancic's hopes alive to reach the prestigious, season ending Masters Finals in Shanghai, China next month.

Already qualified for Shanghai are Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Ivan Ljubicic and Andy Roddick.

Nikolay Davydenko, David Nalbandian, James Blake and Robredo are next in line, and Chilean Fernando Gonzalez is ninth.

"I am still in the race to qualify for the Shanghai's Masters Cup and next week it is all going to be decided in Paris. I'm sure it will be an exciting week," said Ancic. Qualification will definitely be on Ancic's mind in the coming weeks, particularly when he reminds himself that the Shanghai tournament is offering a cool 3.7 million USD in prize money this year.