PARMA, Italy — Sebastian Korda won his first ATP trophy with a straight-sets victory over Italian wild-card Marco Cecchinato at the Emilia-Romagna Open on Saturday.
Korda became the first American man in 11 years to lift a trophy on European clay, since Sam Querrey won in Belgrade in 2010.
Korda, 20, did not drop a set all week in Parma, carrying that run into the final to see off the 104th-ranked Cecchinato 6-2, 6-4 in 75 minutes.
Korda had lost the only other final he had contested, against Hubert Hurkacz at the Delray Beach Open in January.
“But I stayed positive, even with such a bad first part of the clay-court season. I took a couple of days off, recharged my batteries and had a really good practice week in Prague with my dad and my coach. I came back hungrier, and I’m playing some really good tennis now.”
Korda’s father is former second-ranked Petr Korda. They are the third father-son duo to win tour-level singles titles in the Open era, following in the footsteps of Ramanathan Krishnan and Krishnan and Phil and Taylor Dent.
Korda had never even won back-to-back main-draw matches on clay before arriving in Parma. But he had stormed through to the final and held his nerve despite being faced with a partisan home crowd.
He won 82% of points on his first serve and broke three times, including the decisive break at 5-4 on Cecchinato’s serve to clinch the title.
Korda also staved off the one break point he faced, late in the second set.
“Today I played a really tough opponent and the crowd wasn’t easy,” Korda said. “They kept cheering him on, but I’m really proud of myself and how I handled it.”
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