Vesely Joins Exclusive Club After Lifting Pune Title

Five years after capturing his maiden ATP Tour title in Auckland, Jiri Vesely added a second trophy to his collection on Sunday to complete a dramatic week at the Tata Open Maharashtra.

The Czech fired 26 aces to beat Egor Gerasimov 7-6(2), 5-7, 6-3 and become only the eighth player since 2013 to save match points in two matches en route to an ATP Tour crown. Vesely saved two match points to overcome Ilya Ivashka in a final-set tie-break to reach the semi-finals and advanced to the championship match after surviving four match points in another final-set tie-break against Ricardas Berankis.

Players To Win A Tournament After Saving Match Points In Two Matches (Since 2013)

Year	Player	Tournament	Round/Players Defeated
2020	Jiri Vesely	Pune	QF (Ilya Ivashka) & SF (Ricardas Berankis)
2018	Bernard Tomic	Chengdu	2R (Lloyd Harris) & F (Fabio Fognini)
2017	Victor Estrella Burgos	Quito	2R (Ivo Karlovic) & F (Paolo Lorenzi)
2017	Feliciano Lopez	London/Queens's Club	QF (Tomas Berdych) & F (Marin Cilic)
2016	Dominic Thiem	Rio de Janeiro	2R (Gastao Elias) & SF (Rafael Nadal)
2016	Martin Klizan	Rotterdam	QF (Roberto Bautista Agut) & SF (Nicolas Mahut)
2015	Rajeev Ram	Newport	1R (John Isner) & QF (Adrian Mannarino)
2013	Jo-Wilfried Tsonga	Marseille	QF (Bernard Tomic) & F (Tomas Berdych)

The 6’6” left-hander improves to 2-1 in ATP Tour finals after winning his maiden ATP Head2Head match against Gerasimov. Vesely reached his first two championship matches in 2015, lifting the trophy in Auckland (d. Mannarino) and finishing as runner-up in Bucharest (l. to Garcia Lopez).

After trading breaks in their opening service games, a tie-break was required to decide the outcome of the first set. Vesely found his best level, landing winners with his backhand and firing powerful serves to establish a 6/2 advantage. Gerasimov struck a short forehand into the net to hand Vesely a one-set lead.

A second tie-break appeared likely, with neither player able to manufacture break points in the opening 10 games of the second set. But Gerasimov struck in the 11th game, driving his backhand to take time away from Vesely and extract multiple errors. The Belarusian levelled the match with an ace out wide, his ninth service winner of the match.

Vesely quickly regrouped, gaining the crucial break of serve in the second game of the deciding set. The Czech won four straight points to break, using his backhand to dictate rallies before ripping a cross-court forehand return to take a 2-0 lead. Vesely maintained his advantage to serve for the title at 5-3 and held to love, capturing the trophy with a strong backhand net approach.

Gerasimov was aiming to become only the second Belarusian to win an ATP Tour singles title. In 2003, Max Mirnyi defeated Raemon Sluiter to lift his only tour-level singles trophy at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam.

Vesely receives 250 FedEx ATP Ranking points and collects $91,625 in prize money. Gerasimov gains 150 ATP Ranking points and earns $50,710.

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