By Alberto Amalfi | Sunday, October 2, 2016
World No. 101 Karen Khachanov battled past Albert Ramos-Vinolas, 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3), 6-3, in the Chengdu final to capture his first career ATP title.
Photo credit: Chengdu Open
Karen Khachanov transformed his first final into a dream day.
Khachanov cracked five of his 14 aces in the final set battling past Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-7 (4), 7-6 (3), 6-3, in the Chengdu final to capture his first career ATP championship.
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The 20-year-old Russian delivered his most dynamic serving in the final set, winning 18 of 26 points on his serve in the decider. Khachanov concluded the week with a tournament-high 48 aces.
Khachanov broke serve three times in the two hour, 39-minute match.
The 6'6" Moscow native is the first Russian champion on the ATP Tour since compatriot Mikhail Youzhny collected the Valencia title in October, 2013.
The world No. 101 knocked off four seeded players—seventh-seeded Joao Sousa, fourth-seeded Feliciano Lopez in the quarterfinals, sixth-seeded Viktor Troicki in the semifinals and fifth-seeded Ramos-Vinolas—to become the ninth first-time champion on the ATP Tour this season.
Ramos-Vinolas, who edged Grigor Dimitrov, 7-6 (6), 1-6, 7-6 (3), in Saturday's semifinals to reach his first ATP final on hard courts, had earned his third career Top 10 win when he swept top-seeded Dominic Thiem in Friday's quarterfinals.
The final was the third meeting of the season between Ramos-Vinolas and Khachanov with all three going the distance. They had split their prior two meetings with Ramos-Vinolas prevailing in the Istanbul round of 16 earlier this season.
The victory will vault Khachanov into the Top 100 as he earned 250 ranking points and the champion's check of $148,860.