(Tennis news) Albert Ramos-Vinolas won his fourth ATP tour title with a win over Alejandro Tabilo at the Cordoba Open. The Spaniard defeated the qualifier 4-6, 6-3, 6-4 in the final that lasted for 2 hours and 40 minutes. Tabilo only had 3 wins on the tour before this year and racked up four wins at Cordoba, he beat Diego Schwartzman in the semifinal for his biggest career victory so far and did not drop a set from the qualifiers to the final. He was looking to be the second from his country to win the title after Cristian Garin’s victory two years ago.
Albert was playing at Cordoba for the fourth time and in the previous three always lost against an Argentine. Last year he played 5 of his matches against Argentines and lost in the final against Juan Manuel Cerundolo who was ranked 335 at that time. Before that he had reached the quarterfinals and the fourth round in 2019.
The 32 year old had lost in the first round of the Australian Open this year but did not drop a set on his way to the final at the clay event. He was down a set and 2-0 in the second but fought his way through to win the next 6 games out of 7. In the third set, it was again the Chilean who took a 4-1 lead but it was not yet over as Albert broke serve thrice and unleashed forehands that were meant to crush his opponent’s hopes. Tabilo hit a backhand long as Alber fell to the ground with 5 consecutive games for an inspiring victory.
"I don't know how I came back to be honest. I think I played a little bit more aggressively from 1-4 in the third. He missed some first serves. He was serving well and I started to return a little bit more aggressively than before," Ramos-Vinolas said. "When I came back from 1-4 to 3-4, I was feeling I had a chance."
The 24 year old has now climbed up 32 places in the rankings after his performance for a career best 112 and is on his way to the top 100. The veteran also jumped 12 places to be ranked 32 as all four of his career titles have come on clay. Both players will next play at Buenos Aires where Tabilo will face another Spaniard Pedro Martinez in the opening round as for Albert he will be up against Brazilian lefty Thiago Monteiro.
Also read: Alexander Bublik wins first ATP tour title at Montpellier
