Tsitsipas claims maiden clay title in Estoril
Stefanos Tsitsipas secured a third ATP Tour title – and his second of the season – at the expense of Pablo Cuevas.
Stefanos Tsitsipas claimed his maiden ATP Tour clay-court title with a straight-sets defeat of Pablo Cuevas in the Estoril Open final.
The top seed lost his first ATP decider on the red dirt against Rafael Nadal last year, but defeated Cuevas 6-3 7-6 (7-4) on Sunday.
Next Gen ATP Finals champion Tsitsipas served more assertively than his experienced opponent and overcame second-set jitters to secure the third ATP Tour title of his career – and a second this season.
Tsitsipas did not face a single break point in the first set, but Cuevas fought back from 2-0 down in the second and had a point to level the match.
Lucky loser Cuevas was unable to take it to a decider, though, as 20-year-old Greek Tsitsipas got himself out of trouble to force a breaker, which he took charge of by breezing into a 4-0 lead.
The Next Gen ATP Finals champion needed four match points to get his hands on the trophy, running in to put away a forehand before dropping to the deck in delight.