Mirza Basic completed a stunning week in Sofia by beating Marius Copil 7-6(6) 6-7(4) 6-4 to win his first ATP title.
The Bosnian, 26, earned the two biggest victories of his career by beating Stan Wawrinka and Philipp Kohlschreiber en route and made sure his dream week had the right ending with a determined display in the final.
Both Basic and Copil were contesting their first-ever ATP final and the Romanian, who was ranked 93 in the world before the tournament, went into the match as the favourite.
But the Bosnian, who had to qualify in Sofia due to his pre-event ranking of 129, upset the odds and will now jump a remarkable 53 places to a career-high of 76 when the updated list is released. Copil’s performances will move him up to 74.
‘I’m very, very happy about everything this week,’ said Basic. ’It’s my first title in my first final, which does not happen to many players.’ The Bosnian continued, ‘After this win, Sofia will always be my special place.’
When Basic was asked about his achievement in getting through qualifying and winning seven matches in total to take the title, he said, ‘There are so many good players outside the top 100 who are just not able to get these chances to play. This week I got this chance to play the main draw and I played really well.’
The final in Sofia was a tight affair throughout, with both players largely dominant on their own serve and only one break apiece in each of the first two sets.
In the first tie-break, Basic was unable to capitalise on his first set point on Copil’s serve, but immediately created another on his serve and took full advantage to win the breaker 8-6.
The second set tie-break got away from the Bosnian twice as went 3-0 and then 5-3 behind. After Copil inevitably clinched the set on his own serve, Basic called for treatment on his back.
Attention from the physio clearly had the desired effect, as Basic broke Copil’s serve in game nine of the deciding set and comfortably served out the next game to seal a sweet victory.
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