TENNIS ECUADOR OPEN – Victor Estrella became the oldest first-time ATP World Tour title winner ever in the Open Era and also became the first Dominican player ever to triumph in the elite of world tennis when he defeated first seed Feliciano Lopez in the final of the Quito tournament. By Bruno Bergareche Sans
The inaugural Ecuador Open will never forget its first ever winner, and its first ever winner will never forget the Ecuador Open. Victor Estrella broke an endless amount of records in Quito after defeating number one seed, Feliciano Lopez, 6/2, 6/7, 7/6 in a scintillating final that capped off a wonderful week of tennis.
At the age of 34, Estrella (which means star in Spanish) became the oldest first-time ATP World Tour title winner ever in the Open Era and also became the first Dominican player ever to triumph in the elite of world tennis. This win for the man from Santo Domingo sees him climb a whopping 21 places in the rankings, sitting at an all time high of 52, and clearly sending out the message to everyone out there that age is just a mere number.
After the win, Estrella admitted that “Quito has become a very special city for me. It actually already was as I’ve won challengers here. Today has been a very tough day for me where I was a set up and later I lost the tie break. In the third set I was up a break and I didn’t manage the nerves well. I got a little bit nervous but thanks to God, I relaxed a bit in the tie break and I was able to win the mini break and win the match.”
Another interesting fact from this contest is that it was the second over 30 final of the season, with the other being also played on Sunday between Garcia-Lopez and Seppi in Zagreb. And if that wasn’t enough with Victor Estrella being crowned in Quito, the ATP tour has already had winners from six different nationalities this season (Switzerland, Spain, Serbia, Czech Republic, France and the Dominican Republic. Further proof of the immense diversity and variety that the beautiful game of tennis offers.
