World number one Daniil Medvedev won his first ATP title of 2022 with a straight sets win over British number one Cameron Norrie at the Los Cabos Open in Mexico.
The Russian beat the defending champion 7-5 6-0 for his first trophy since last year’s US Open.
Since then, the 26-year-old had lost in five finals but did not concede a set this week.
“Every match was very good, but the final is always special,” he said.
“In the final, you play the best player of this week, so it’s always a high-level match and I’m really happy that I managed to show some good level, some good shots in such an important match.”
Medvedev, who was unable to play at Wimbledon because of the ban on Russian players, had two set points on his serve at 5-4, but was broken.
In the next game he scraped his hand on the court reaching for a shot on the opening point, and needed treatment because of the blood.
But he quickly recovered and claimed a decisive break to lead 6-5 and once Medvedev had served out the opening set, there was no way back for Norrie, also 26, who had defeated second seed Felix Auger-Aliassime of Canada in the semi-finals.
“It was not easy,” Medvedev added. “Cam is an amazing player, so it was really intense. When you play against him, you know that you have to fight for every point.”
Next up for Medvedev as he warms up for the US Open, which begins on 29 August in New York, is the defence of his Canadian Open title before the Cincinnati Masters.
“I fought as hard as I could do, but Daniil was too good,” said Norrie.
Meanwhile, Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios will face world number 96 Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan in the final of the Citi Open in Washington DC.
The Australian, who won the last of his six ATP titles at the event in 2019. defeated Sweden’s Mikael Ymer 7-6 (7-4) 6-3.
Nishioka continued his good week, which included a win over Britain’s Dan Evans in the last eight, with a 6-3 6-4 success over top seeded Russian Andrey Rublev.
In the women’s event, 37-year-old Kaia Kanepi of Estonia will aim to win her first WTA title in nine years when she faces Russian Liudmila Samsonova in the decider.
Kanepi, the world number 37, eased past Australia’s Daria Saville 6-3 6-1 while Samsonova was a 6-1 6-1 winner over China’s Wang Xiyu.
