By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Sunday February 16, 2025
The Serbian saved a pair of championship points and ran through the final five games to lift his second ATP trophy.
Photo Source: TTV
It takes grit and determination to be an ATP title winner. Serbia’s Miomir Kecmanovic had plenty of both - and a little luck - and he put them on full display on Sunday’s Delray Beach open final as he saved a pair of championship points in rally to defeat Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 3-6, 6-1, 7-5 for the title.
“It feels amazing,” Kecmanovic. “It didn’t happen for a long time, but I kept believing. I’m so happy to have finally won a title.”
Before this week, Davidovich Fokina had not played in an ATP final since 2022 in Monte-Carlo.
He got himself into a winning position, but fatigue and nerves played a toll as he squandered a pair of match points with Kecmanovic serving at 2-5 in the final set.
Davidovich Fokina went for it all at the end of a grueling rally on his first match point but missed the sideline on a down-the-line forehand by less than an inch. Kecmanovic popped a volley off the net cord for a winner on the second, the tennis gods showing their allegiance for a brief, important second.
“Today you got me with two match points,” Davidovich Fokina said. “You deserve it, you fight very well – congrats to you and your team.
“It’s always said when you lose but I’m happy, after three years that I was not in a final, to be here once again, it’s sad but at the same time I’m very happy with myself.”
From there, it was all one way traffic for the Serbian who reeled off the final five games to clinch his second ATP title and deny the Spaniard his first.
Bidding for his second career title and first since 2020, Kecmanovic showed resilience as he recovered to take the middle set 6-1.
He locked things down as the pair headed to the finish line, goading Davidovich Fokina into mistakes.
Davidovich Fokina, who defeated Matteo Arnaldi in the semifinals yesterday, appeared to be running on fumes as he served out the match at 5-3. He went for broke on a backhand at 30-30, missing it wide, giving Kecmanovic a break point to level the decider.
He missed another forehand wide on the next point.
Falling behind love-30 in the next game did not curtail Kecmanovic. He turned up the heat on the Spaniard and won the next four points to level at 5-all.
Now reeling, Davidovich Fokina surrendered an easy break, but he stabilized in the next game, and even had a break point to force a tiebreak. He couldn’t crawl through that window, however, as Kecmanovic headed him off at the pass and converted his second championship point to close the battle in two hours and ten minutes.