Shanghai, Oct 18 (IANS) Alejandro Davidovich Fokina earned the biggest title of his career on Sunday when he rallied past his countryman Rafael Jodar to win the Shanghai Masters crown.
The 27-year-old Spaniard was trailing by a set and a break at 1-6, 2-3 before sealing a 1-6, 7-6 (5), 6-4 win inside Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena to earn his first ATP Masters 1000 trophy.
En route to the final, Fokina had saved a match point against Frances Tiafoe in the third round and also rallied from a set down to beat both Hubert Hurkacz and Alexander Zverev.
With his two-hour, 28-minute win, Fokina claimed his third and biggest ATP Tour trophy. Having lost his first five tour-level finals, including his only previous Masters 1000 championship match in Monte Carlo in 2022, he has now won his past three after his title runs in Mallorca and Chengdu earlier this year, ATP reports.
Both men were trying to claim their maiden ATP Masters 1000 title. Jodar was competing in his first title match at the Masters 1000 level, but it was Fokina, who was competing in his second Masters 1000 final, went on to lift the title, having reached the final at the Monte-Carlo Masters in 2022.
After clinching the Masters 1000 crown, Fokina will depart Shanghai with a hefty payday as the winner got USD 1,151,380 prize money, while the runner-up earned USD 612,340. He will now head into the European indoor season on a 10-match winning streak.
Earlier in the day, Lucas Miedler and Neil Oberleitner capped a dominant run by clinching the doubles crown. The Austrian pair downed Francisco Cabral and JJ Tracy 6-3, 6-4 to seal the trophy at the ATP Masters 1000 event without having dropped a set across its five matches.
–IANS
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