ATP Sao Paulo: Guido Pella defeats Christian Garin for maiden ATP title

After losing ATP finals in Rio de Janeiro, Munich, Umag and Cordoba, the Argentinian Guido Pella has finally won the first ATP title in Sao Paulo following a 7-5, 6-3 triumph over Christian Garin in an hour and 23 minutes. Pella made a good start at the South American Golden Swing, losing in the final of Cordoba to Juan Ignacio Londero and fixing that today to become the seventh different first-time winner on the Tour in 2019. Serving at 75%, Guido lost 20 points in ten service games, fending off six out of seven break points and pushing Garin to the limits on the return, with the Chilean landing only 54% of the first serve in. 

Playing in the first ATP final, Garin struggled to make an impact with the second serve and he suffered four breaks from seven opportunities give to Pella, playing well in the opener before losing the ground in set number two and hand the crown to his opponent. The young Chilean had to work hard right from the start, fending off three break points in the first game of the match and creating a couple of chances at 2-1 that could have sent him in front. A left-hander saved them both, bringing the game home with a service winner and breaking at 15 in game nine with a return winner to move closer to the set. 

Garin continued to fight, breaking back in game ten to level the score at 5-5 and prolong the set, only to lose eight of the next nine points to drop the opener 7-5. Pella broke at 15 in game 11 and he fired three service winners in the following game to secure the first part of the match and gather the momentum before the second. There, Christian sprayed a forehand error in the first game of the second set, wasting a break point in game four and allowing Pella to clinch the title with a forehand down the line winner at 5-3, starting a massive celebration after his career-best result so far.

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from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2EIAieZ