Alex De Minaur rallied from a set down and saved three championship factors en path to a 5-7, 6-1, 7-6 (3) victory over Alejandro Davidovich Fokina within the remaining of the DC Open on Sunday.
De Minaur, a 26-year-old Australian who was seeded seventh for the match, earned his tenth ATP title and eighth on onerous courts. He was the runner-up to Alexander Zverev in Washington in 2018, and can enter the highest 10 on this planet rankings forward of subsequent month’s US Open.
Davidovich Fokina, the No. 12 seed, dropped to 0-4 for his profession in finals regardless of main 5-2 within the third set Sunday and repeatedly standing only a single level from victory. This was his second time frittering away a number of match factors in a match remaining this 12 months.
The 26-year-old Spaniard entered the week at No. 26 and can make his debut within the high 20 on Monday; he stays the highest-ranked man with out a title.
“Alejandro, you are approach too good to not have one in every of these, it is coming for positive,” De Minaur mentioned through the on-court ceremony, gesturing to the trophy. “You deserved it right now, I simply acquired fortunate. You’re a hell of a competitor, hell of a participant. Nobody on the tour needs to play you.”
Following their match, De Minaur walked over and sat subsequent to Davidovich Fokina, consoling him after the hard-fought loss.
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“I wish to say congrats to Alex. He deserved the win. He was preventing each f—ing ball,” Davidovich Fokina mentioned. “He was at all times pushing by way of my limits.”
Davidovich Fokina recalled that he had required a wild card to play within the U.S. capital final 12 months, and was happy to have a minimum of assured an increase to a career-high No. 19 rating.
“We had a job to do earlier than we began the 12 months, to be on the center of the 12 months within the high 20,” he mentioned. “This week we did it, simply not with the trophy. However for positive, we are going to maintain going, pushing our limits, pushing tougher.”
The Related Press and Reuters contributed to this report.
