Sunday 21 February 2016 17:48, UK
Hugely talented Aussie youngster Nick Kyrgios has claimed the first Tour title of his career after beating Marin Cilic 6-2 7-6 (7-3) in the final of the Marseille Open.
Kyrgios romped through the first set against the fourth seed, setting up 10 break point opportunities and converting two of them, before serving the set out to love.
However, the second set was a lot tighter, both players saving the one break point which they faced.
Cilic's break point was also a set point at 4-5 but he could not convert and Kyrgios then took charge of the tie-break, winning it 7-3 to wrap up victory in five minutes short of an hour and a half.
The Aussie is renowned for his powerful serving and showed why in the final, sending 17 aces past Cilic, including one on match point, against just one double fault.
The World No 41 claimed his first ATP title in his second final, after a runner-up finish in Estoril last year.
He did not drop a set or his serve all week and, having defeated Tomas Berdych in the semis, his win in the final made him the first player under the age of 21 to beat top 10 opponents in consecutive matches since Juan Martin del Potro managed the feat in 2009.
And 2016 has been a fine year for the 20-year-old Kyrgios so far as he also teamed up with Daria Gavrilova to win the Hopman Cup for Australia in January.
Former US Open champion Cilic was beaten in the Marseille final for the second time in his career, having also finished runner-up in 2011.
"I was serving really well all week. I didn't get broken once," Kyrgios said. "That was the main thing that was good. And I was able to put pressure on my opponents' serves a lot when I was going through my service games really quickly.
"I didn't really expect to win this title this week after having a couple of weeks off. But from the first round I started playing really well and just gained confidence as I kept winning matches."
