MARSEILLE, Februar 25, 2018
Karen Khachanov earned his second ATP World Tour title, winning the Open 13 Provence in Marseille. The 21-year-old from Russia fought past No. 3 seed Lucas Pouille of France 7-5, 3-6, 7-5 in Sunday’s singles final.
Khachanov, who clinched his maiden crown at the 2016 Chengdu Open, fired 16 aces and broke serve three times to prevail after one hour and 49 minutes. The ninth seed is the first player who competed at last year’s inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals to win multiple ATP World Tour titles.
Good match and great week for Khachanov, Who wins a second career title in Marseille. Good start of the year for him after a super up & down 2017. pic.twitter.com/pv4xlDRHSh
— José Morgado (@josemorgado) 25. Februar 2018
“It is the second title in my career, so I am extremely happy. I just need to keep working and keep going. I think both of us played a good match, really solid, and just a few points made the difference,” Khachanov said.
“I felt I was playing good here from the first day. It’s nice to play on a full court in the final, and I hope to come back next year.”
Lucas Pouille was bidding to claim his second trophy on home soil in three weeks after winning the Open Sud de France.
“It was a good week. Karen is a young player who will be Top 20 soon. Congrats to him. Overall it was a great match… Another final is always positive. I hope that I can continue to play well in the next few weeks,” Pouille said.
Top Seeds Prevail In Doubles
Earlier in the day, top seeds Raven Klaasen from South Africa and Michael Venus of New Zealand clinched the doubles title with a 6-7, 6-3, 10-4 victory over Marcus Daniell from New Zealand and Briton Dominic Inglot. The final lasted one hour and 22 minutes.
Klaasen and Venus won their first tour-level doubles title as a team in just their fourth tour-level event together. They began their partnership last month at the ASB Classic in Auckland.
“It was a lot of fun today to play in front of such a big and enthusiastic crowd. I am happy to celebrate our first title together,” Klaasen told.
“It is really exciting. We have been working hard on the practice court, and every time we have been out there competing, we have felt like we have gotten more comfortable with each other. We are really excited to get the title here and keep building on it,” Venus added.
