SPANISH veteran Roberto Bautista Agut has snapped a two-year drought to claim the European Open ATP Tour title, defeating talented Czech Jiri Lehecka in straight sets. Bautista Agut collected the 12th title of his career, winding back the clock with a performance for the ages in Antwerp, winning 7-5 6-1.

The 36-year-old became the second oldest player this year to scoop an ATP Tour title, and in both of his sets against Lehecka led comfortably, but had to overcome a late first set fight back from the fifth seed. Bautista Agut – now ranked 60th in the world – had a 19/19 win-loss record coming into the season and often had to fight through qualifying after breaking his foot in 2023 and tumbling down the world rankings.

It was incredibly the third meeting in two months between the pair in 2024, with Bautista Agut winning at the Davis Cup tie between the nations, before Lehecka ousted the Spaniard in a come-from-behind victory at Beijing. Bautista Agut now leads the head-to-head 4-1 over the course of their careers.

Bautista Agut lead 5-2 in the first set, before Lehecka broke back and was able to level the scores at 5-5. However holding his nerve in the 11th game then breaking the Czech to love in the 12th sealed the opening set. The second was not too dissimilar with the Spaniard again gaining the early break before winning the last three games of the set to close out the match 7-5 6-1.

Ultra-consistent in victory, Bautista Agut won 79 and 75 per cent of his first and second serve points off a 76 per cent clip, while Lehecka only won the 61 and 31 per cent of his respective points. The Spaniard also broke four times to one throughout the course of the match.

“This one is very special,” Bautista-Agut said post-match. “I broke my foot last year and I had to fight so hard this year. I went back to 120 in the world, but I was still going to practice with a smile on my face, trying to be a better player, to fight until the end of my career. I think I deserved a week like this.”

Paul dominates Stockholm for second title in four years

AMERICAN Tommy Paul is no stranger to success at the Nordic Open, having won the ATP 250 event title held at Stockholm, Sweden back in 2021. However the American was far superior to his effort then, not even dropping a set on his way to a dominant third title in 2024.

Paul won 6-4 6-3 against an equally-impressive Grigor Dimitrov in just an hour and 25 minutes, not dropping a set all tournament to lift the trophy.

“I feel like every match I played a little bit better and better,” Paul said post-match. “Today I came out playing amazing, so I was definitely happy with the performance.”

While his nearest rivals in the ATP Finals Race dropped off in Andrey Rublev and Alex de Minaur, Paul closed the gap to 495 points as the year continues to wind down. He will not take a rest in the bid to reach the prestigious event, heading straight to Vienna.

“It’s a very special place for me,” Paul said of Stockholm. “This is where I got my first title a few years ago and to come out and play the level of tennis I did this week, it’s been a dream.”

Seventh heaven for Khachanov in Almaty

It was far from simple, but third seeded Russian Karen Khachanov was able to win his seventh ATP Tour title following a three-set victory against surprise finalist, Canadian Gabriel Diallo. The 26th ranked Russian was expected to easily take care of the 118th ranked North American, and he quickly raced out to a 6-2 4-2 lead and on the verge of victory.

However Diallo was far from done, winning five of the next seven games to take the next set and send the match into a decider. Luckily for Khachanov, the favourite was able to regain control of the match and produced a critical break in the third set to take out the match 6-2 5-7 6-3 in two hours and 22 minutes.

“A lot of emotions, now I’m relieved and super happy,” Khachanov said post-match. “You can’t expect a final to be easy, without tension, but it was until 6-2, 4-2. Then he started to relax, go for his shots a little bit more, and he suddenly turned the match around.”

Khachanov served six aces and won 69 and 57 per cent of his first serve points off a 72 per cent efficiency, while Diallo was not too far behind with 65 and 33 per cent off a 70 per cent clip. The Russian’s victory saw him move up two spots into 24th in the world, while Diallo was boosted up an outstanding 31 spots to enter the Top 100 for the first time in the 23-year-old’s career.