Fourth seed Juan Martin del Potro successfully defended his Intrum Stockholm Open trophy via a 6-4, 6-2 win over top seed and 2013 titlist Grigor Dimitrov in Sunday’s final. Del Potro needed one hour and 23 minutes to dispose of Dimitrov and win his first title this season. The win gave del Potro his 20th ATP World Tour title and more importantly, it boosted his standings in the ATP Race to London, moving him to 14th in the rankings with 2,135 points. Del Potro is now 470 points behind Pablo Carreno Busta, who currently holds the final qualifying spot in the Nitto ATP Finals.
Del Potro, who hit nine aces and saved all four break points he faced ended the match with a big serve, improving his head-to-head record against Dimitrov to 6-2. Despite the loss, Dimitrov remains fifth in the ATP Race to London standings with 3,560 points. If he qualifies, this will be the first time that Dimitrov will play in the season-ending tournament.
Dzumhur notches 2nd title in Russia
Damir Dzumhur, the first Bosnian to capture an ATP World Tour title, bagged his second title in Russia after beating Ricardas Berankis, 6-2, 1-6, 6-4, in the finals of the VTB Kremlin Cup. It took Dzumhur one hour and 39 minutes to beat Berankis and improve his record in Russia to 10-0. After making his third final in his last seven tournaments, Dzumhur will climb to a career-best No.
31 in the ATP Rankings. With the win, Dzumhur earned 250 ATP Rankings points and the top purse of $132,990 while Berankis added 150 ranking points to his name and $70,045 to his bank account. Berankis will have a chance to avenge his loss to Dzumhur as they will meet in the opening round of the Erste Bank open 500 in Vienna next week.
Tsonga wins fourth ATP World Tour title
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga captured his fourth ATP World Tour title via a 6-3, 7-5 triumph over Diego Schwartzman, 6-3, 7-5, Sunday in the finals of the European Open. “I'm feeling good. It's always good to win tournaments. I played really good tennis this week,” said Tsonga, per ATPWorldTour.com after winning his fourth title this season, a career-best for the Frenchman.
He earlier bagged titles in Lyon, Marseille, and Rotterdam earlier this year, increasing his career total to 16 trophies.
The win also put Tsonga in contention for the Nitto ATP Finals, which will be played from November 12 to 19 at The O2 in London. The victory increased Tsonga’s ranking points to 2,055, just 550 points behind Busta. With two weeks remaining in the season, Tsonga has enough time to gain more ground on Busta, starting at the Erste Bank Open 500, where he is the eighth seed.
