FILE PHOTO – Tennis – ATP 500 – Hamburg European Open – Rothenbaum Tennis Center, Hamburg, Germany – July 27, 2019 Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta in action during his semi-final match against Russia’s Andrey Rublev REUTERS/Fabian Bimmer
(Reuters) – Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta claimed his first ATP title in more than two years after coming back from a set down to beat big-serving Alexander Bublik 6-7(5) 6-4 7-6(3) in the Chengdu Open final in China on Sunday.
World number 63 Carreno Busta, who snapped a six-match semi-final losing streak on Saturday, withstood 31 aces from his 6ft 5ins (1.96m) Kazakh opponent to lift his fourth ATP title after just over two hours.
Both players were in complete control on serve in the final set and did not leak a single break point, before Carreno Busta raced to a 5-1 lead in the tiebreak and went on to seal victory with a crosscourt backhand winner.
It was Carreno Busta’s first title since winning Estoril Open in 2017.
Bublik, 22, enjoyed an impressive run in Chengdu this week, recording upset wins over American Taylor Fritz and Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov to reach his second ATP final of the season.
Reporting by Hardik Vyas in Bengaluru; editing by Tony Lawrence