ACAPULCO, Mexico (Reuters) – Czech Republic’s Tomas Machac won his first title on the ATP tour on Saturday, beating Alejandro Davidovich Fokina 7-6(6) 6-2 in the final of the Mexican Open.
Eighth seed Machac, who won gold in mixed doubles at the Paris Olympics, became the third player from his country to win an ATP 500 title, following Tomas Berdych and Radek Stepanek.
“It feels amazing,” Machac said after lifting the silver gourd-shaped trophy.
Machac, ranked 25th in the world, was the superior player on the serve, landing seven aces through a tightly contested first set where neither player could get a break.
Spain’s Davidovich Fokina was on the verge of winning the set when he led 6-5 in the tiebreaker, but Machac held his nerve to win the next three points and claim the set.
The 24-year-old stepped up in the second set, getting the first break of the match to go up 3-2. Davidovich Fokina struggled to keep up as Machac won every subsequent game to seal the victory.
Machac, who beat Novak Djokovic in last year’s Geneva Open to reach his first tour final, where he lost to Casper Ruud, fell to his back after securing the championship point in Acapulco as Davidovich Fokina’s return got stuck in the net.
“Congratulations for your first title,” Davidovich Fokina told Machac at the presentation ceremony. “I don’t know how you feel right now. I never won a title. But for sure it feels amazing.”
The Spaniard has now lost three finals on the tour, including at the Delray Beach Open earlier this month.
Machac thanked his coach Daniel Vacek for helping him stay calm through the tense contest.
“I was sometimes very tough on him, I speak very loudly (to) him during the matches,” Machac said.
“But I told him two weeks ago that I sometimes struggle with big matches and I don’t know how to manage these situations but then I won… I will try to speak more often.”
(Reporting by Chiranjit Ojha in Bengaluru; Editing by William Mallard)
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