Unseeded Cristian Garin of Chile continued his sizzling start to 2019 with a 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (1) victory against Italy’s Matteo Berrettini in the final Sunday at the BMW Open by FWU in Munich.
The 22-year-old entered the season with just one career Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) Tour match win.
The two-hour, nine-minute victory over a tiring Berrettini improved Garin’s record this year to 19-5 on clay, including his first career title last month in Houston.
Berrettini beat Spain’s Roberto Bautista Agut in a rain-delayed semifinal on Sunday morning, 6-4, 6-2.
Garin saved eight of the 10 break points he faced and ultimately played his best tennis during the third-set tiebreak, controlling the court with his baseline play and superior shotmaking.
He improved to 3-0 this season in final-set tiebreaks.
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The Number one seed Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece captured his first career clay-court title with a 6-3, 7-6 (4) win over Pablo Cuevas of Uruguay in Estoril, Portugal.
It was the second title of the season (Marseille in February) and the third of the 20-year-old’s career.
Tsitsipas took advantage of Cuevas’ struggles on serve, as the 33-year-old six-time clay-court titlist landed only 53 percent of his first serves in the first set and just 57 percent in the match.
He was serving at 4-3 in the second set when he finally faltered, dropping nine consecutive points as Cuevas forced a tiebreak.
Tsitsipas jumped ahead 6-1 in the tiebreak and ultimately prevailed after Cuevas saved three match points.
Reuters/NAN
