In the Los Cabos Open final in Mexico on Saturday, Jordan Thompson of Australia triumphed against Casper Ruud 6-3, 7-6 (7/4) to win his maiden ATP championship.
Again, Thompson had to dig deep to defeat fourth-seeded Ruud after the top-seeded Alexander Zverev was defeated in a fierce semifinal match that ended in the wee hours of Saturday morning.
The 29-year-old Australian grabbed command of Saturday’s final against the three-time Grand Slam finalist from Norway, displaying no signs of weariness from Friday’s exhausting three-hour, forty-minute struggle with Zverev.
“It’s been an incredible week,” said Thompson, who had also saved three match points to recover from 6-0, 3-0 down in a quarter-final win over Alex Michelsen earlier in the tournament.
“I spent some serious hours on the court this week, and I want to thank everyone for staying up late last night and throughout the week. The crowd was amazing.
“It’s been a journey. I’m nearly 30 and I’m lifting a trophy; I never thought I would do that.”
In the sixth game of the first set, Thompson broke Ruud to take a 4-2 lead. He then saved two break opportunities to win the first set 6-3.
In the second set, he broke Ruud and held to go up 5-3. He appeared to be ready for an easy win.
However, Ruud took an 0-40 lead to break back and square the score at 5-5, and Thompson seemed to stiffen up when serving for the match at that point.
As the tension increased, serve was used in the next two games to set up a tie-break.
But in the tie-break, Thompson composed himself again, built up a strong 5-2 lead after Ruud double-failed, and took a 3-2 lead.
Ruud managed to hold and bring the score back to 5-4, but Thompson was unfazed and grabbed two match points after Ruud hit a long return.
After that, Thompson launched a powerful serve that left Ruud reeling, and the Australian moved to the net to bury a winner that sealed a well-earned triumph.
