THERE was a nice touch of nostalgia as rising American talent Sebastian Korda lifted the Mubadala Citi DC Open trophy aloft over the weekend, with the 24-year-old matching the effort of his father Petr 32 years earlier. Korda opted to skip the Paris Olympics in order to get an extra hardcourt tournament in the lead-up to the US Open and it paid dividends, defeating Italian Flavio Cobolli, 4-6 6-2 6-0.

After dropping the first set in a tight one, Korda put the foot down to win the last 11 games of the match and go from 1-2 down in the second set to a quick 6-2 6-0 across the final two sets. The result has moved the United States talent up to 18th in the world.

“I’ve been coming to this tournament since I was a teenager,” Korda said post-match. “My dad used to coach Radek Stepanek, who also won here in 2011. We have a lot of history with this tournament, and obviously one of my biggest goals was one day coming here and hopefully winning the tournament and putting my name up there on the stadium. Now that I have the opportunity, this is probably the most special moment of my career so far.”

Korda had to wait a while to taste victory, with first a two-hour rain delay and then an epic women’s singles final, then had to fight out a three-setter of his own. Cobolli seemed to be on the back foot through the first set but kept holding his serve. Then in the 10th game he went for it, producing a massive forehand winner on his first break point to secure the first set.

The United States talent looked down and out in the third round of the DC Open against Thanasi Kokkinakis, having to save two match ppints before coming back to win. He hit seven aces and won a massive 83 and 64 per cent of his first and second serve points to storm to victory in an hour and 34 minutes. He coverted five breaks across the last two sets and never looked like losing once he got on top.

Korda credited his opponent – who also saved match points in the tournament – on his first appearance in an ATP Tour final.

“A big congratulations to Flavio,” Korda added. “You’ve battled this whole week on court, you’ve saved so many match points, you spent so many hours on court in the heat. It wasn’t easy, but a big congratulations to you and your team. It’s a great week for you guys and I wish you all the best.”

Cobolli has risen up 15 places to number 33 in the world with the result, as he edges closer to a potential US Open seeding at the end of the month.

2024 MUBADALA CITI DC OPEN RESULTS: MEN’S SINGLES FINAL

[4] Sebastian Korda (USA) defeated [10] Flavio Cobolli (ITA) 4-6 6-2 6-0