ZCZC
BSP-01
TENNIS-ATP-USA
Moldova’s Albot edges Britain’s Evans for first ATP title
MIAMI, Feb 25, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Moldova’s Radu Albot saved three match
points in a third-set tie-breaker before capturing his first ATP Tour title
Sunday by defeating Britain’s Dan Evans in the Delray Beach Open final.
Albot, ranked 82nd, dispatched the 148th-ranked English qualifier 3-6, 6-3,
7-6 (9/7) after two hours and 51 minutes on the court plus a rain delay in
the tension-filled final set.
Both men were trying to become the fifth first-time winner on the ATP Tour
this year.
Albot, 29, was in his first tour-level final. It was only last year when he
reached his first ATP semi-final at Metz, France, where Albot lost to
eventual champion Gilles Simon of France.
Evans, 28, reached his only other ATP final in 2017 when he lost at Sydney
to Gilles Mueller of Luxembourg. He was suspended for one year later that
season after testing positive for cocaine at the Barcelona Open.
Rain arrived at the Florida event with Albot leading 2-1 in the third set.
They battled into a tie-breaker and Evans had the first three chances at
taking the victory, each time denied by Albot, who capitalized on his first
match-point opportunity for the triumph.
BSS/AFP/MSY/0922 hrs