SHENZHEN, October 2, 2016

Tomas Berdych moved to within 330 points of Rafael Nadal in the Emirates ATP Race To London as he won his first ATP World Tour title of the season. In his 15th meeting with Richard Gasquet, the defending champion from the Czech Republic retained his Shenzhen Open title with a 7-6, 6-7, 6-3 victory in Sunday’s final.

Berdych fired 18 aces, winning 76 per cent of his first service points. He broke the Frenchman’s serve three times to prevail in two hours and 39 minutes. Berdych is currently ninth in the year-to-date standings, with the top eight at the end of the regular season set to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

After being forced to miss the US Open due to appendicitis, Berdych has hit top form quickly on his return to action, also reaching the semi-finals in St. Petersburg last week.

“Five weeks ago I was in hospital, now I’m sitting here with the trophy. Things are changing very quickly. Luckily for me, everything is going well, I’m feeling good, sitting here as a winner. I’m just taking all this as a bonus, that I can play and win some matches,” Berdych told.

The 31-year-old lifted his first ATP World Tour trophy since triumphing at the If Stockholm Open almost one year ago. The Czech improved to a 13-17 record in tour-level finals.

“I think it was a very solid game. I said after the semi-final that I wanted to raise my game and play better and I think I achieved that against a tougher opponent. I’m very pleased with the way I played.

“The two match points in the second set were very tough. He served aces so I couldn’t do anything about that. He started playing very well and deserved to win the second set. I had to battle for the win and sometimes that happens.”

Third seed Richard Gasquet was looking to win his second ATP World Tour title of the season, following victory in Montpellier in February, when he defeatd Paul-Henri Mathieu in the final.

Fognini And Lindstedt Claim Doubles Title

First-time duo Fabio Fognini and Robert Lindstedt proved to be an unbeatable combination, winning their first ATP World Tour doubles title together with a 7-6, 6-3 victory over second seeds Oliver Marach and Fabrice Martin in the final. The encounter lasted one hour and 23 minutes.

“We’re really, really happy. I haven’t enjoyed myself this much in doubles in a long time. Thanks to Rob for playing with me. It was a great week,” told Fognini, who last year qualified for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals alongside Simone Bolelli, captured his fourth ATP World Tour doubles title.

Lindstedt lifted the 20th trophy of his illustrious doubles career and added:

“I think we both played really, really well from the first match on. The only set we lost was very tight as well (against the top seeds). We played some really good teams this week and it was really fun to play.”

Champions here 🏆@ATPShenzhenOpen
Thanks to my partner Robert … enjoy a lot! Xie xie 😘👄❤️ pic.twitter.com/jMsERUecwo

— Fabio Fognini (@fabiofogna) 2. Oktober 2016