Doha [Qatar], February 25 : Karen Khachanov captured his sixth tour-level crown and the first of this season with a triumph at the Qatar Open by defeating Jakub Mensik in the final.
In a heavy-hitting title clash, the 27-year-old outlasted Mensik 7-6(12), 6-4 at the ATP 250.
After saving four set chances in the first set, Khachanov intervened on the 18-year-old's second serve at 12/13, hammering home a forehand return to take the lead in the fourth game.
In the first game of the second set, Khachanov capitalized on his momentum by breaking Mensik's serve. For the teenager, who was playing in just his third tour-level event and had been the youngest finalist in the history of the Doha tournament, it dashed a dream week.
With 83 per cent of the points coming from his opening delivery, Khachanov did not encounter a break point during the entire match. With his formidable attacking play from the baseline and his advantage in backhand cross-court rallies, he won his first title since Zhuhai in September of last year.
"Every title is a special one. Every time, you want to win. We play around 22 tournaments per season and at the end of the day, you compete every week. For sure here in Doha, it is one of the nicest trophies," Khachanov said in his on-court interview as quoted by ATP.
"I thought yesterday's [tie-break] was preparation for today, 14/12 [against Alexei Popyrin]. Today I couldn't believe it was the same score, same tie-break... I stayed strong, I'm extremely happy that I won the first set. It lifted me a lot and gave me a lot of confidence to step up in the second," he added.
Throughout the one-hour, forty-nine-minute match, both players delivered thunderous serves, hitting their marks with accuracy and racing for the first chance to enter the court.
"For a minute, I thought I was playing John Isner and not Jakub Mensik today," Khachanov said.
Meanwhile, Mensik made an outstanding impression throughout the entire week in Doha, where he overthrew Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and three former champions Andy Murray, top seed Andrey Rublev and Gael Monfils en route to his first tour-level final.
"For sure this week will be unforgettable for me. From the beginning, I didn't even get to this tournament on my own ranking. I had to use the Next Gen spot, so I tried to enjoy every moment on the court. I didn't expect that I would go through to the final. So I'm really happy with my performance. I am sad and also happy at the same time, because of a tough loss today, but yeah, it was a great match," Mensik said.
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