Ecuador Open Quito: Victor Estrella Burgos beats Feliciano Lopez to become oldest first-time ATP title winner
Sunday 8 February 2015 21:23, UK
Victor Estrella Burgos became the oldest first-time ATP title winner when he beat top seed Feliciano Lopez in the final of the inaugural Ecuador Open Quito.
The 34-year-old Dominican claimed a 6-2 6-7 7-6 victory over the Spanish world No 14 to make history in Ecuador's capital city.
Estrella Burgos, who beat Brazilian sixth seed Thomaz Bellucci in the semi-finals to become the first Dominican Republic native to reach an ATP World Tour final, broke Lopez in the opening game and then held his first service game to race into a 2-0 lead.
Lopez defeated third seed Fernando Verdasco to reach Sunday's final and got on the board when he held his second and third service games, but so too did Estrella Burgos as he established a 4-2 lead.
And the world No 73 broke Lopez in the seventh game and held his serve once again take the first set 6-2.
Both players failed to break the other in the 12 second-set games so a tie-break ensued, which Lopez won 7-5 to force a deciding set.
Estrella Burgos was not to be deterred and after holding serve he broke Lopez for the third time and held once again to establish a 3-0 third-set lead.
Lopez broke back to level at 4-4 and both players held their next service games before playing their way into a deciding breaker.
The Spaniard still refused to roll over but Estrella Burgos finally got over the line to make history.
