PETE ZIEBRON
Lucky loser Andrey Rublev won the first title of his career on Sunday, while veteran Spaniard David Ferrer won for the first time in two years and John Isner took advantage of a weak field to win on grass for the third time in Newport.
Despite losing in the second round of qualifying in Umag, young Russian Andrey Rublev dropped just one set in the main draw, winning the ATP Umag 250. World #174 Atilla Balazs of Hungary defeated Rublev in straight sets, however the 19 year-old from Moscow entered the main draw when Borna Coric withdrew due to neck pain. Despite losing the first set in his quarterfinal match against Fabio Fognini, Rublev then won the next six consecutive sets he played and defeated Paolo Lorenzi in the final. Today, Rublev rocketed up the ATP rankings 25 places to world #49. As a result of his efforts in Umag, Rublev was granted a Special Exception into the main draw of the ATP 500 this week in Hamburg. His first round opponent is German Philipp Kohlschreiber.
David Ferrer had won just four of his last nine matches heading into the ATP 250 last week in Bastad. The 35 year-old Valencia native had to feel very good about his chances in the semi-finals against fellow Spaniard, Fernando Verdasco, a player he defeated win consecutive times entering the match. At world #39, Verdasco would be the highest ranked opponent by far that Ferrer would have to face but that mattered little to Ferrer. Following his win over Verdasco, Ferrer defeated tricky Ukranian Alexandr Dolgopolov in straight sets to win his 27th career title.
American John Isner had perhaps the easiest route to an ATP title in history in Newport. Isner beat a pair of Americans and a pair of Aussies in winning the title. The rankings of his opponents are as follows: #201 Sam Groth {AUS}, #203 Denis Novikov {USA}, #142 Bjorn Fratangelo {USA} & in the Final, Qualifier #249 Matt Ebden {AUS}. The win was Isner's 11 title of his career.