Auckland, Jan. 14 (BNA): France’s Richard Gasquet today, Saturday, won his first title in five years by defeating Britain’s Cameron Norrie 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in the final of the Auckland Open.
Elsewhere, South Korean Kwon Sun-woo won the final of the Adelaide International 2, defeating fourth seed Roberto Bautista Agut of Spain 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (4) to claim his second ATP title.
World number 12 Norrie, who beat defending champion Rafael Nadal at Melbourne Park in the season opener, dropped the first set in the Australian Open warm-up event before the 36-year-old Gasquet fell behind.
The Frenchman came through Friday’s semi-final looking slightly fresher than Nouri, leveling the match before taking a decisive break to lead 5-4 in the decider.
Gasquet then finished off the contest after serving out to win his first title since Hertogenbosch in 2018, disappointing home fans who had hoped the New Zealand-bred Norrie would come out on top.
“It’s a great title for me, especially now at my age,” Gasquet told a news conference. “I really didn’t think I would win again.”
Gasquet, the champion of the older men’s event in Auckland, will meet fellow Frenchman Hugo Humbert first at the Australian Open, which starts on Monday.
In Adelaide, 84th seed Kwon became the first lucky loser to win an ATP title since Marco Cecchinato in 2018 in Budapest.
Kwon clinched the first set clinically by winning most of his first serve points before Bautista Agut clinched the second set with his impressive second serve performance.
Bautista Agut broke Kwon’s serve to lead 4-3 in the third set, but the South Korean broke immediately, and came back in style in a fiery match.
As the match reached a tie-break, Kwon prevailed due to his flawless second serve as the 25-year-old, another title for his collection after winning in Nur-Sultan in 2021.
M