Berdych battles past Gasquet to retain title

Tomas Berdych captured his first title of the season when he battled past Richard Gasquet 7-6(5), 6-7(2), 6-3 to clinch the Shenzhen Open for the second successive year yesterday.The victory boosted hopes of a seventh-consecutive ATP World Tour final appearance for Berdych, who is currently ninth in the race, just outside the eight qualifying spots for London.The two players, tied at 7-7 in head-to-head meetings ahead of the final, exchanged breaks early on in the first set, before the big-serving Czech prevailed 7-5 in a tiebreak. The 31-year-old, who missed the US Open after suffering from appendicitis, continued to heap pressure on Gasquet by securing an early break in the second set, but the third-seeded Frenchman saved two match points to level the contest through another tiebreak. Playing in his 30th tour final, Berdych raced to a 5-3 lead without facing a break point in the deciding third set, and eventually held his nerve to secure the 13th ATP title of his career.“Five weeks ago I was in hospital, now I’m sitting here with the trophy. Things are changing very quickly,” Berdych said. “Luckily for me, everything is going well, I’m feeling good, sitting here as a winner. I’m just taking all this as a bonus, that I can play and win some matches.”Khachanov wins maiden title at Chengdu OpenRussian Karen Khachanov produced a stirring fightback to clinch his first ATP title with a 6-7(4), 7-6(3), 6-3 win over Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas in the final of the inaugural Chengdu Open yesterday.The 20-year-old, ranked 101st in the world, is expected to soar nearly 50 places in the ATP standings after humbling fifth seed Ramos-Vinolas.Playing in his third ATP final, Ramos-Vinolas converted his only break point in the opening set and looked poised to surge through the set but Khachanov forced a tiebreak before surrendering it 7-4.However, Khachanov levelled the match against the Spaniard when he bagged a tightly-contested second set 7-3 in the tiebreak. Khachanov, who had beaten three seeded players en route to his first ATP final, relied on his strong service game, including 14 aces in the match, to complete a memorable win. “I can’t believe I won my first title,” said Khachanov.“At this level, all the players are really tough. I was playing against a guy much higher-ranked than me, so I just had to focus on every goal and keep going. You cannot lose focus and be relaxed. I was just pushing myself to the limit and I got the second set and then the third.”