Karen Khachanov has defeated Spain’s Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-7(4), 7-6(3), 6-3, to win his maiden ATP title at the Chengdu Open in China.
The final marked new territory for both players in their careers. Next Generation star Khachanov was playing in his first ever ATP Final, becoming the first Russian finalist since Mikhail Youzhny at the 2013 Valencia Open. Meanwhile, Ramos-Vinolas defeated top seed Dominic Thiem and third seed Grigor Dimitrov to reach his first ATP final on a hardcourt.
A total of 70 places separates the two players in the world rankings, however, the disparity between the two in the opening set between the two couldn’t have been closer. Fifth seed Ramos-Vinolas was the first to strike as he broke for 3-2 lead before squandering his break when serving for the set at 5-4, forcing a tiebreaker. Ultimately, it was the experience of the Spaniard that shined after a Khachanov forehand sailed far beyond the baseline to hand him a duo of set points. Ramos-Vinolas then clinched the lead thanks to another costly error from his opponent.
Suffering a blow in the first set, Khachanov refused to let the title slip from him as he produced a series of blistering serves and forehand winners to keep his title intentions alive throughout the second set. The aggressive play from the Russian paid off as he got his revenge in the second tiebreak against his faltering Spanish rival. A forehand shank from Ramos-Vinolas gifted the 20-year-old a duo of chances to level at one set all. The opportunity was swiftly seized with another blistering forehand cross-court winner from Khachanov.
As both men moved to just six games away from the title, nerves became evident. Back-to-back Khachanov errors handed Ramos-Vinolas the break for 2-1 in the decider before the Russian immediately broke back, thanks to a lacklustre service game from his opponent. Continuing with his heavy hitting, the youngster secured the breakthrough four games later when a deep backhand to the baseline forced his opponent to produce an error, moving him to a game away from the title. Serving for the biggest title in his career, Kachanov grabbed the milestone as a shot from his opponent drifted out.
“It was a really nice event, I enjoyed playing here.” The new champion said during what was a very brief trophy ceremony. “I hope to come back next year.” He later added.
Khachanov’s Chinese achievement has set a series of milestones. He is the ninth player this year to win their first title on the ATP Tour, the fourth to win a title on both the Challenger and ATP Tour and the third lowest ranked title winner this season.
Following his run at the ATP 250 event, The Russian is projected to rise to a ranking high of 55th in the rankings. At the start of the year Khachanov was ranked 155th.
