SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — China’s Kai-yu He grabbed his second ATP Tour title and first since 2019 on Sunday, beating top-seeded Casper Ruud of Norway 7-6 (7-5), 6-3 in the final of the Korea Open..
The 26-year-old He, ranked 124th, was making his third tour-level final. He captured his maiden title at Chengdu in 2019, but hadn’t advanced past the second round of any tournament since then..
He upset second-seeded Cameron Norrie of Britain in the quarterfinals and third-seeded Jenson Brooksby of the United States in the semifinals..
Against Ruud, the fifth-ranked player in the world, He broke the Norwegian’s serve in the opening game and saved a break point in the next game. But Ruud struck back immediately, breaking He in the third game..
He saved two more break points in the ninth game and had two set points on his own serve in the 10th, but Ruud saved both. He then held serve before breaking Ruud to take the tiebreaker..
In the second set, He broke Ruud’s serve in the third game and saved two more break points in the fifth. He then held serve before breaking Ruud again to take a 5-2 lead..
He served out the match on his second match point, winning the title in 1 hour, 48 minutes..
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