By Chris Oddo | Saturday, August 2, 2014

 

Scorching-hot David Goffin won his 20th consecutive match on Saturday, claiming the Kitzbühel title with a win over Dominic Thiem.

Photo Source: Sport.be

Challenger level, ATP level—it doesn’t seem to matter. 23-year-old Belgian David Goffin is winning in at all levels, in all nations and in all venues right now.

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Today Goffin downed rising Austrian Dominic Thiem in the Bet-at-Home Cup final, 4-6, 6-1, 6-3, to claim his maiden ATP title.

After dropping the first set and facing break points that would have put him behind in the second, Goffin rallied to win seven consecutive games to take control of the match. He would break again in the match’s final game to become Belgium’s first title winner on the ATP Tour in over six years.

"It's just crazy," said Goffin, who was 3-11 at the ATP level in 2014 before entering the draw in Kitzbühel. "I couldn't dream about this at the start of the week. Tonight I will celebrate."

Goffin earned four break points on the day, and saved five of six break opportunities against his opponent.

Goffin, who also won Challenger-level events in events in Sheveningen, Holland, Poznan, Poland and Tampere, Finland without dropping a single set in the last four weeks, has now won 20 straight matches and 40 of 42 sets.

He improves his record over hometown favorite Thiem to 3-0 with the victory, having also defeated him in Acapulco qualifying and at Eastbourne in 2014.

Thiem, who was bidding to become the first Austrian to take the cup since Thomas Muster in 1993, managed to put aside his disappointment to appreciate the accomplishment of reaching his first career final.

"I never expected to get this far in the tournament. It was an unforgettable week," he said.

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Thiem, 20, became the youngest finalist on the ATP Tour, despite the loss.

Goffin became the fifth player born in the 1990s to hoist a tour-level trophy, joining Milos Raonic, Grigor Dimitrov, Bernard Tomic and Federico Delbonis.

Jarkko Nieminem and Henri Kontinen of Finland took the doubles title, 6-1, 6-4, over Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan and Daniele Bracciali of Italy.