MOSCOW, October 23, 2016
Pablo Carreno-Busta captured his second ATP World Tour career title, winning Sunday’s final of the $792,645 VTB Kremlin Cup in Moscow. He beat Fabio Fognini 4-6, 6-3, 6-2.
The sixth seed from Spain sent down six aces, winning 69 per cent of his first service points and converted five of his seven break point chances to seal victory in one hour and 55 minutes.
“When you win your first title, it’s a really special one but this one is special also,” said Carreno Busta, who had lifted his maiden trophy in Winston-Salem earlier this season. “In both finals, I lost the first set. But then I continued fighting and I continued believing in myself, and at the end, I won the match and the tournament. The good thing for me I think I improved my game a lot this year.”
Carreno-Busta is pleased with his level of play and his season so far, becoming the the third Spaniard to win multiple ATP World Tour titles this season, joining Rafael Nadal and Roberto Bautista Agut.
“Last year I [split paths] with my coach. And I started practicing at the academy of Juan Carlos Ferrero with two new coaches. When you change your coach you try to do something different. I think I play more aggressive. And try to believe in myself. More than before. I think we are on the good way. We play more aggressive with my forehand. It’s very important if I want to be a top player. I have to continue keep fighting. We are improving some things. I won some tournaments this year and I was in four finals this year.”
Fognini was playing in his 12th career ATP World Tour final and was trying to win his fifth career title. He was obviously disappointed after losing the final.
“I am sad, of course, because I’ve lost in the final. But I am happy for my performance during the week and I really enjoyed staying in Russia,” the Italian said and added:
“I always love coming here. I had my first final [in Russia] in Saint-Petersburg, I played Davis Cup in Irkutsk. Davis cup is completely different and I played against Rublev and then doubles and against Gabashvili. These were tough three days. It is completely different.”
Colombians Win Doubles Title
Earlier the day, the second seeds from Colombia Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah claimed the doubles title, winning the Austrian tandem of Julian Knowle and Jürgen Melzer 7-5, 6-4, 10-5 in one hour and 42 minutes.
“I think in the first set we was pretty superior than them, we had one [set] easier, had couple break-points, 4-0 or 3-0, I don’t remember. We were playing very well, [later] it got tight, but we were able to win that game on 6-5. Then they started [making] strong [pressure] on us, we were a little bit down, like you said, I feel like they were returning well, we had to pressure them a little bit more on serves. And sometimes we were making simple mistakes, which they were returning really well and we went down 5/1, we almost came back, but they came to super tiebreak, where I feel: again we started slow, but we really push hard to have a strong finish,” Farah told and seemed to feel comfortable in Russia’s capital this week.
“I feel like it’s a first time we come to Russia, when I came into the airport I [thought]: ‘Whoa, we got the oldest terminal in whole Russia’, but once we came in the city, I found out how amazing this city is, and country is, people [were] so nice, I feel it’s going to be very special [experience] for us. We had a great week with the good friends, we went out for dinners, we went out to the Red Square, I think it was beautiful, and I really like Moscow and I feel like I definitely [will] come back.
