By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Sunday March 1, 2020
Thiago Seyboth Wild became the youngest Brazilian player to ever win an ATP title with his victory over Casper Ruud in Santiago.
Photo Source: Claudio Reyes/Getty Images)
19-year-old Brazilian Thiago Seyboth Wild claimed his first title and made history for his nation by becoming the youngest (and lowest-ranked) player from Brazil to ever claim an ATP title on Sunday with a 7-5 4-6 6-3 triumph over Norway’s Casper Ruud in the Chile Open final.
Seyboth Wild’s victory snaps a run of six consecutive losses by teenagers in ATP finals and he becomes just the second teenager to claim a title on the ATP Tour since the summer of 2017 (the other was Alex de Minaur at Sydney last season).
The 19-year-old started slowly, surrendering breaks in each of his first two service games, but he held steady and regained his footing to break back each time and eventually Seyboth Wild took the opener with a break in the 12th game to land the stanza, 7-5.
The second set was a lot cleaner and it was Ruud who claimed the lone break of the set when a Seyboth Wild forehand drifted long of the baseline to give Norway’s No.1 a 5-4 lead in the set.
Ruud, who was bidding to become the fifth ATP player to earn multiple titles in 2020, held to love to force a third set.
Seyboth Wild reversed the momentum quickly in the third by breaking for 2-0, and consolidated to 15 to lead 3-0.
Ruud kept in touch but the poise and assertiveness of Seyboth Wild took center stage down the stretch as the Brazilian refused to give the Norwegian a sniff of hope. The 19-year-old won his final 12 service points of the match and started his final service game with back-to-back aces followed by a service winner.
When Ruud’s down-the-line backhand drifted wide on championship point Seyboth Wild dropped on his back on the clay as the crowd’s applause reverberated.
With the win, Seyboth Wild is projected to rise from 182 to 113 in the ATP rankings. He is the ATP Tour’s third first-time winner in 2020, joining Ugo Humbert (Auckland) and Ruud (Buenos Aires).