The day of great comebacks: Fucovic beats Rio finalist to claim first title in 6 years!

Marton Fucovic is one of the most consistent and tough competitors on the ATP Tour, having not left the world top 100 since he entered it in 2017. The Hungarian has reached the second week of 3 out of 4 Grand Slam events and boasts wins over the likes of Daniil Medvedev, Andrei Rublev, Taylor Fritz and our own Grigor Dimitrov, but has never managed to win a second ATP title since winning the Geneva Cup in 2018.

However, that 6-year drought ended today as the former No. 31 left clay specialist Mariano Navone with no chance to claim the ATP 250 trophy at the red-court event in Bucharest, which returned to the calendar for the first time since 2016 year – 6:4 7:5. In this way, Fucovic will get as close as possible to a return to the top 50 and will no longer have to go through the qualifiers of major tournaments, while Navone will record a career-high ranking and will be at number 41 in the ATP rankings from tomorrow.

The final got off to a dream start for the Hungarian, who raced out to a 4-0 lead and it looked like the opening half was just about to be played out, only for the Rio finalist to have a different opinion and restore parity at 4-4. Navone even had a chance to take the lead with a break in the ninth game, but he did not take advantage of his hidden set ball, and after a while he was unable to reflect a real one against himself, and the world number 82 came as close as possible to the title in the Romanian capital.

The second set started much more positively for the South American and the impression was growing that he was dominating the game from the fifth game of the match. The fifth seed was like a wall in the games from the bottom of the court and took a break lead, which he maintained with ease until 4:2 in his favor. Fucovic then played his best tennis since the start of the match and used every opportunity to increase the tempo of the game with his powerful forehand. Navone’s shots softened more and more and this allowed the veteran to win 5 of the next 6 games, creating one of the best moments in his long tennis career.

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