PARMA, May 29, 2021 (by Lorenzo Carini)

The first edition of the Emilia-Romagna Open – Mutti Cup came to an end on Saturday after eight days of matches on the clay courts of the Tennis Club President in Parma, Italy. Sebastian Korda from the United States was crowned singles champion of the ATP 250 event, organized by MEF Tennis Events. Simone Bolelli and Maximo Gonzalez captured the doubles title.

First ATP title for Sebastian Korda

Twenty-year-old Korda won his first ATP Tour title. The Bradenton, Florida resident, who fell in the championship match of the Delray Beach Open to Hubert Hurkacz earlier in the season, defeated Italian wild card Marco Cecchinato 6-2, 6-4 in one hour and 15 minutes.

Korda, who will enter the Top 50 next week for the first time in his career, played a flawless match, especially with his serve. He saved the only break point he faced and capitalized on three of his own six break-point chances.

SEBI MAGIC ✨@SebiKorda is an ATP champion for the very first time, defeating Cecchinato 6-2 6-4 in Parma!#EmiliaRomagnaOpen pic.twitter.com/ZcHSjSUtk6

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) May 29, 2021

Both Korda and Cecchinato will play at Roland Garros next week. The American will face Spaniard Pedro Martinez in the first round while the Palermo native will take on Yasutaka Uchiyama of Japan.

“I will leave for Paris tomorrow. I will play a very tough first-round match against Martinez, but I would like to advance to play Tsitsipas in the next round,” Korda said during his press conference.

Korda, who became the first player from United States to win an ATP tournament on European clay since Sam Querrey in Belgrade 2010, added: “I stayed positive after Delray Beach’s loss. I practiced hard with my team and I came back on court more aggressive after that week. I’ve learnt a lot from the Delray Beach final against Hurkacz. I played a really tough opponent today. I want to congratulate him for an amazing week. I came to Parma with my girlfriend for the first time… and I won my first title. That’s amazing.”

Bolelli/Gonzalez take doubles title

Simone Bolelli of Italy and Maximo Gonzalez of Argentina won the doubles title in Parma thanks to a 6-3, 6-3 win over Oliver Marach of Austria and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi of Pakistan. The Italian-Argentinian team needed just one hour and 21 minutes to gain their second ATP Tour team title of the season, only two months after their triumph in Santiago, Chile.

Bolelli and Gonzalez, finalists last week in Geneva, will play Roland Garros together next week.