Cecchinato overwhelms home favourite Schwartzman
BUENOS AIRES: Italian Marco Cecchinato won the Argentina Open on Sunday with a clinical 6-1, 6-2 demolition of hometown favourite Diego Schwartzman.
World No. 18 Cecchinato raced through the match in little over an hour to claim his third ATP t i t l e . Buenos Aires- born Schwartzman buckled under the pressure of playing in front of a partisan crowd and at one stage lost seven games in a row.
Cecchinato romped to the title without dropping a set all week. The 26-year-old captured titles in Umag and Budapest last year and is now three for three in ATP finals.
“Winning my third tournament in my third final makes me happy,” he said. “I want to be physically good and train harder for the rest of the year. I know that I’ll continue to have good results if I stay mentally solid.
OPELKA EARNS FIRST TOUR TITLE
NEWYORK: Reilly Opelka blasted 43 aces on the way to winning his first ATP Tour title with a 6-1, 6-7(7), 7-6(7) victory over Canadian Brayden Schnur at the New York Open. The 21-year-old American paved the way for victory by successfully challenging what Schnur thought was an ace at 7-7 in the final tiebreak.
Schnur’s shot was shown to be just out, so instead of having championship point the Canadian had a second serve, which he netted. Opelka then slammed in his 43rd ace of the match for the victory. He had the same number of aces in beating top seed John Isner in their semi-final.
KASATKINA, MUGURUZA RECORD NERVY WINS
DUBAI: Russia’s Daria Kasatkina roared back from a break down in the deciding set to beat Polish qualifier Magdalena Frech 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 in the opening round of the Dubai Duty Free Tennis.
Former world No. 1 Garbine Muguruza was also forced to work hard for her 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 win over Dayana Yastremska, recording her first win in three meetings with the Ukraine teen.