ATP Adelaide: Premiere title - Thanasi Kokkinakis completes personal tennis fairy tale
The Australian Thanasi Kokkinakis , who was repeatedly confronted with bad luck with injuries, celebrated his first tournament victory at the ATP 250 tournament in Adelaide.
by tennisnet.com
last edit: Jan 15, 2022, 11:49 am
What was already clear at the beginning of the final game at the ATP 250 event in Adelaide: There would be a premiere winner. Neither Thanasi Kokkinakis nor Arthur Rinderknech have been able to win a title on the ATP tour so far. The sentimental favorite - especially for the local fans - was of course the 25-year-old Australian, who has repeatedly struggled with injuries and other setbacks in the past.
While last week's tournament "only" made it to the semi-finals at the same place, this time Kokkinakis went all out: In a gripping final that was well worth seeing, the local hero secured his first tournament win with a hard-fought three-set win over the Frenchman, who was one year his senior . After 2:38 hours, the native of Adelaide finally prevailed 6: 7 (6), 7: 6 (5), 6: 3.
The man from "Down Under", who started the tournament with a wild card, gambled his way to the final with highly dramatic victories over John Isner, Aleksandar Vukic and Marin Cilic. "You should get half of the trophy," he said in the winner's speech, praising his home crowd, who had carried him through the past two weeks. It was the Australian's second appearance in the final after Los Cabos in August 2017.