Portugal’s world number 137 Joao Sousa battled past sixth seed Emil Ruusuvuori 7-6 (11-9) 4-6 6-1 to clinch his first ATP Tour title at the Tata Open Maharastra in Pune.
Ruusuvuori fired his powerful groundstrokes to break serve in the eighth game for a 5-3 lead, but Sousa broke straight back, as his Finnish opponent made two double faults.
Sousa forced Ruusuvuori into an error with a smash and sealed the tie-break 11-9 on his fourth set point.
Sousa earned an early break to open up a 3-0 lead in the second set, but Ruusuvuori reeled off five consecutive games from 1-4 down to close out the second set 6-4.
Sousa earned an early break in the second game third set. The Portuguese player broke for the second time and saved five of the eight break points to close out the match after 2 hours and 43 minutes. Sousa has won his first title since Estoril 2018. “I knew that Emil is a great player, so it would be tough to close out the match. He played great tennis at the end of the second set. I knew that I had to be there in the third set and get my game into it. It’s a great week for me. We have had a few tough moments in the past two years, and to get the title today is just a dream come true. If you would have asked me six months ago if I would be in the a final, I would have said no”, said Sousa.
