By Chris Oddo | Sunday, February 8th, 2015
Victor Estrella Burgos made history in more ways than one with his title in Quito.
Photo Source: Ecuador Open Quito
Crack open the history books and make room for a 34-year-old dynamo from the Dominican Republic.
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Victor Estrella Burgos became the first Dominican to earn an ATP title, as well as the oldest maiden ATP title winner in the Open Era, with his 6-2, 6-7(5), 7-6(5) triumph over Feliciano Lopez in the final of the Ecuador Open Quito on Sunday.
The world No. 73 dropped to the clay when Lopez’s final ball landed long, celebrating years of hard work and a recent blossoming that has seen the 5’8” 170-lb sparkplug rise from obscurity to bona fide threat.
Though a professional since 2002, Estrella Burgos didn’t win his first tour-level ATP match until 2013, but since then he’s been steadily progressing up the ladder.
After winning the opener, Estrella Burgos and Lopez battled into a tiebreaker after a nail biting second set. The Dominican had break points in consecutive games in the later stages, but the strong serving of Lopez proved to be too much to overcome.
"Today has been a very tough day for me where I was a set up, and later I lost the tie-break," Estrella Burgos said. "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."
Lopez, bidding for his fifth career title, would take the second set in the breaker. It was the first set Estrella Burgos had lost all week.
Lopez would rally from a break and 4-1 down in the third set to force a deciding-set tiebreaker, but after hammering his 19th ace to take a 4-3 lead the Spaniard missed a golden chance for a mini-break when he netted a very makeable backhand at 4-4.
"He practically dominated the whole match," Lopez would later say. "In the tie-break I was ahead, and then I had a very easy backhand shot that I missed and that killed me. It would have put me at 5-4 with two serves. That would have been a good opportunity, but tennis is like this."
An Estrella Burgos passing shot would give the Dominican two match points, and two points later he sealed the victory and dropped to the clay in ecstasy.
Despite the loss, Lopez became the 9th player in ATP history to pass the 7,000-ace mark. He is the third active player to achieve the feat.