In his second Delray Beach Open final, Sebastian Korda won his third ATP title with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Tommy Paul on Sunday afternoon. Korda, the 2021 runner-up, dug out of a 0-40 hole while serving for the championship at 5-3 in the second set and triumphed in one hour and 22 minutes.
“(It means) a lot,” assured the American in 50th place. “I’ve been through some things in the last few months (and) years. I’ve lost a lot of finals, and now to be able to get one here in Delray… here I made my first ATP final, so it’s like a full circle day. I’m just happy.”
It was also a completely deserved title. Korda was the best player all week, ousting three of the top five seeds: Paul (No. 3), Casper Ruud (No. 2 in the quarterfinals) and Flavio Cobolli (No. 3 in the semifinals). He also defeated compatriots Mackenzie McDonald and Alex Michelsen in rounds one and two respectively.
In the final, Korda simply handled the circumstances better than Paul. In extreme winds, the 25-year-old managed to serve at 67 percent, hitting nine aces and just two double faults. He was broken only once and answered that lone break in the first game of the second set with an immediate break-back.
It looked like Paul would stay alive with his second break of the day in the final match, but Korda impressively saved a total of four break points to power his way across the finish line.
“It’s as satisfying as it can be, winning a tournament (after serving) down 0-40,” Korda said during his post-match interview. “I’ve been working a lot hard these past few weeks, especially mentally. I just trusted the process, went after my shots and didn’t really get caught up in negativity.”
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