Next Generation star Nick Kyrgios captured his first ATP World Tour title yesterday in Marseille as he upset fourth seed Marin Cilic 6-2, 7-6(3) in the final of the Open 13.
The 20-year-old Australian lifted his first silverware on the ATP World Tour at the end of a stunning week, which saw him beat two Top 10 players in No. 10 Richard Gasquet and No. 8 Tomas Berdych plus a Grand Slam champion in Cilic. He didn’t lose a set and was unbroken in 47 games.
He is the first player under the age of 21 to beat Top 10 opponents in consecutive matches since Juan Martin del Potro at the 2009 US Open (SF d. Nadal, F d. Federer).
The No. 41-ranked Kyrgios earned 250 Emirates ATP Ranking points and €106,175. He was contesting his second ATP World Tour final, having finished runner-up to Gasquet in the Estoril title match last year.
“I played my first final last year and was looking for my first title,” said Kyrgios. “But I didn’t really expect to win this title this week after having a couple of weeks off. But from the first round I started playing really well and just gained confidence as I kept winning matches.”
“I think I served really, really well again,” said Kyrgios. “I was serving really well all week. I didn’t get broken once. That was the main thing that was good. And I was able to put pressure on my opponents’ serves a lot when I was going through my service games really quickly.”
Kyrgios was playing just his second tournament of the season, having reached the third round of the Australian Open in January (l. to Berdych). He was forced to withdraw from Rotterdam last week due to an elbow injury.
The 27-year-old Cilic fell to a 14-10 finals record. It is the second time he has missed out in the Marseille final, having also finished runner-up in 2011 (l. to Soderling).
“Nick was playing high-level tennis in the end, but I wasn’t playing too bad either and that’s something good I can take from the match,” said Cilic. (atpworldtour.com)