ATP Tour – Pablo Carreno Busta Takes Home Chengdu Trophy, Alex de Minaur Wins Zhuhai Championships
Singles – Final
P. Carreno Busta (ESP) d A. Bublik (KAZ) 67(5) 64 76(3)
Doubles – Final
N. Cacic (SRB) / D. Lajovic (SRB) d [4] J. Erlich (ISR) / F. Martin (FRA) 76(9) 36 10-3
Pablo Carreno Busta lifted his first tour-level trophy in more than two years on Sunday, outlasting Alexander Bublik 6-7(5), 6-4, 7-6(3) at the Chengdu Open.
The Spaniard, who snapped a six-match ATP Tour semi-final losing streak on Saturday, notched his 24th win in 41 tour-level encounters this year to end a two-year, four-month wait for an ATP Tour trophy. In his only previous meeting against Bublik at the 2016 VTB Kremlin Cup, the Spaniard also needed a final-set tie-break to claim the win.
“It was an incredible week here in Chengdu,” said Carreno Busta. “During the week I felt really comfortable on court. The surface is very fast, but I was very good with my serve during all the matches and I think it was the key to being the winner of the tournament.”
Singles – Final
[7] A. de Minaur (AUS) d A. Mannarino (FRA) 76(4) 64
Doubles – Final
[4] S. Gille (BEL) / J. Vliegen (BEL) d M. Demoliner (BRA) / M. Middelkoop (NED) 76(2) 76(4)
Aussie Alex de Minaur would have preferred to have taken a couple of break points against Adrian Mannarino in the Huajin Securities Zhuhai Championships final. But, in the end, the 20-year-old Aussie needed to win only one to claim the ATP 250 crown.
De Minaur won his third title of the season and of his career on Sunday, beating the 31-year-old Frenchman. The 2018 Next Gen ATP Finals runner-up won his maiden title at the Sydney International, his home event, in January and didn’t lose his serve all week to win the BB&T Atlanta Open in July.
“It was a really tough match. I had a lot of chances and I felt like Adrian just played better than I did in those moments. I just told myself I had to try and take control of the point and just try to dictate as much as I could and I hit a great ball and I’m happy it ended there,” De Minaur said.
