Tommy Paul won the biggest title of his career on Sunday afternoon, beating Lorenzo Musetti 6-1, 7-6(8) in the Cinch Championships final.
Paul coasted most of the way, leading by a set and 5-4 in the second. Suddenly, though, the world No. 13 got broken for the first time all day. Musetti continued to raise his level in the ensuing tiebreaker, but the Italian failed to maintain a 4-1 advantage. Paul fought off one set point at 6-7 before eventually converting his third championship point at 9-8 to triumph in one hour and 28 minutes.
This ATP 500 at Queen’s Club marks Paul’s first title above the 250 level. It also means that he will become the top-ranked American man for the first time in his career on Monday.
“Too nervy,” Paul answered when asked how nervy it got while trying to serve out the match. “I definitely wanted to hold serve there at 5-4. And then that ‘breaker got crazy. He started picking up momentum and it definitely I’m really happy to get the win today.”
The 27-year-old is in this coming week’s Eastbourne draw. He finished runner-up at that tournament in 2023.
Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.
