David Ferrer captured his first title since the fall of 2015 when he beat Alexandr Dolgopolov 6-4, 6-4 in the final of the SkiStar Swedish Open on Sunday afternoon. Ferrer improved to 10-4 lifetime against Dolgopolov after one hour and 26 minutes.
The 35-year-old Spaniard, who had plunged to No. 46 in the rankings, lifted an ATP winner’s trophy for the 27th time in his career. His 27 titles are the most for any player without a Grand Slam to his credit.
“It’s been two years that I haven’t won a tournament, so I’m really happy for this win,” Ferrer explained. “I was a little nervous up 5-1 and Alexandr played without pressure. I tried to be focused on every point, but when I had all those match points I was thinking too much.
“I am going week by week, match by match, and I still have the motivation. I know it will be very difficult to get back to the top 10, but if I stay competitive like this week, I will play next year for sure. I still enjoy playing tennis, but it’s different as I am 35 years old.”
Ferrer-Dolgopolov highlights:
At the other end of the career spectrum, 19-year-old Andrey Rublev won his first ATP title with a 6-4, 6-2 victory over Paolo Lorenzi. It was an improbably remarkable week for Rublev, who lost in the final round of qualifying before getting a spot in the main draw as a lucky loser. The rest, of course, is history. The Russian became the seventh lucky loser in Open Era history–and first since Rajeev Ram at the 2009 Newport event–to capture an ATP title.
“It’s amazing.” said Rublev. “I have no words to explain it, especially after this tough week. Now I’m here and it’s amazing.”
Rublev-Lorenzi highlights:
John Isner’s run to the Dell Technologies Hall of Fame Open title, on the other hand, was far from surprising. The top-seeded Isner triumphed in Newport for the third time in his career and he did so without dropping a single set along the way. In fact, the 6’10” American was not even pushed to a tiebreaker until his final set of the tournament–which he survived against qualifier Matthew Ebden to prevail 6-3, 7-6(4) in one hour and 14 minutes. Isner did not face a single break point in the match or in the entire tournament.
Ebden was the lowest-ranked ATP finalist since world No. 866 Raemon Sluiter finished runner-up in ‘s-Hertogenbosch eight years ago.
“It’s hard to win a tournament,” Isner assured. “It’s no small feat to come out here and be the last man standing. I’m very happy about that. It’s been two years since I won a tournament, so I had that weighing on my mind. I’m very happy with how I played all week. It was a perfect week and I couldn’t ask for anything better.”
“I’m not that tired to be honest,” Ebden commented. “I definitely didn’t lose because of anything physical, which is great. It’s a lot of reward for a lot of hard work–a lot of years of sacrifice. It’s disappointing (to lose the final), but at the same time I have to be happy with my week.”
Isner-Ebden highlights:
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Great to have david F back in the Winners Circle….and I like the Big dawg in ATL!
LOVE Fabio, of course – he’s an artist in how he moves, how balanced he is and the way he strikes the ball. He has the ability to make tennis appear as easy as eating cake.
Truly thought Fabio would win the 3rd set – lots of Italians there cheering for him. But the next gen Russo was steadier in the last TB and had his chorus of supporters too. Match of the week for me:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wR-nVgtwNSU