It has been quite the couple of weeks for 19 year old from Brazil, Thiago Seyboth Wild.
The teenager began his year ranked 207 in the world and will be 113 a new career high when the rankings update on Monday.
He stole the headlines against Davidovich Fokina with 5-7 7-6 7-5 win over the Spaniard in quite a feisty affair which resulted in the umpire having to split the two up. His time in Rio came to an end following a close three set loss to Borna Coric who recovered from 0-40 late on as he secured the win
This week in Santiago, Chile the teenager was in fine form once again on the clay courts advancing to and winning his first ATP final.
Not only was it his first ATP Finals but joins a club of first players born in a certain year to win a title and he was the first born in 2000!
His road to his first title was:
R1 – 6-1 3-6 6-1 v Bagnis
R2 – 7-6 6-4 v Londero (5th seed)
QF – 7-6 v Garin ret. (1st seed)
SF – 6-1 6-3 v Olivo
F – 7-5 4-6 6-3 v Ruud (2nd seed)
The final with Casper Ruud who won his first title in Buenos Aires not long ago was very intense but for me despite being a big fan of Ruud and followed him for a couple of years the Brazilian had more about him on the baseline.
I thought that he was a bit more creative and looked to create more opportunities than Ruud who did struggle to make in-roads without Thiago coughing up errors.
In the second set it did look like being a matter of time before Ruud was broken but twice saved himself from 0-30 in his first three service games and then was gifted a break of his own at 4-4.
During the third set it was back with the momentum of the teenager following a slight blip. He found an immediate break and never looked back as he became the champion in Santiago!
His story is quite a fascinating one and you can read more on Thiago below:
