Márton Fucsovics was preparing for the fourth final of his career at the ATP level after he had a great performance all week in Bucharest – among other things, he defeated Tallon Griekspoor, 25th in the world ranking – and reached the final of the clay court tournament again after six years. It is worth noting that the last time Fucsovics played a final on clay, he won the 250 tournament in Geneva, which was his only tournament victory before.
His opponent in Sunday’s final was Mariano Navone, the fifth seed of the “traveling tournament” in Bucharest – since Budapest hosted the tournament between 2017 and 2019 – and 52nd in the world ranking, who already played in the ATP tournament final in February. The Argentine, born in 2001, lost in two sets against Sebastian Baez in Buenos Aires, and he had never met the Hungarian tennis player before.
Fucsovics started very aggressively, immediately won the first point with a perfect volley, and then brought his serve to nothing. Navone couldn’t say that about himself, in his first service game the Hungarian got to even, and at the end of more than 20 strokes of the ball, he had a chance to break with a beautiful backhand winner. Fucsovics sold this right away, or more precisely, the Argentine hit the ball long, so the Hungarian tennis player gained an advantage right at the beginning of the match.
Navone would have immediately recovered his failed serve, he gained a receiver advantage in Fucsovics’ service game, but the Hungarian played the key ball movements very focused and precisely, so to speak, knocking the Argentinian off the field – who played two matches yesterday. The first three games within the set thus went to Fucsovics.
Because of the particularly slow Bucharest clay, it was not uncommon for 10 or more swings to occur within a ball session. Navone could not keep up with his Hungarian rival, Fucsovics’ will continued to prevail, and with his aggressive play he broke the Argentine again. Despite this, Navone didn’t let go of the set, he once again reached a receiving advantage in Fucsovics’s serve, but this time he sold the break point, so the continuation was possible from 4:1.
The balls were slower and slower, and the stable tennis of the Argentine again caught Fucsovics, who made more and more mistakes, so barely a few minutes passed, and the advantage of the Hungarian tennis player, which seemed to be huge at first, disappeared. Argentina equalized from 4:0. In the continuation, Navone got a break point again, but Fucsovics parried it extremely concentratedly, and then pulled in the key serve. Moreover,
when the Argentinian was serving to stay in the set under pressure, he hit several of his shots wide or long to sell Fucsovics his first set point and take a huge step towards eventual victory.
The Hungarian tennis player continued the match brilliantly, served without losing a point, and Navone’s game showed that he was getting more and more tired. However, the low point of the moment did not affect Navone for a long time, so much so that he parried a break point in his serve, and immediately afterwards – somewhat unexpectedly – he took Fucsovics’ serve with spectacular solutions and took advantage within a set.
At 3:1 in the second set, Fucsovics reached 0:30 in the Argentinian’s serve, but did not get a chance to break, Navone closed the game with concentrated and aggressive tennis, which was crucial from his point of view. In his next service game, however, he didn’t run away, so much so that he didn’t even win a point in the set, Fucsovics broke, cut down his deficit and came within two games of victory. At 5:4, Navone served to stay in the match, but he easily absolved it, so the fight continued.
At 6:5, however, the Argentinian shook, first hitting the ball long and then twice into the net, giving Fucsovics two match points. The Hungarian was still excited about the first opportunity, but sold the second one and won the tournament in Bucharest!
After Geneva, the 32-year-old Hungarian tennis player won the second tournament of his career on clay and on the ATP Tour. Thanks to his victory in the tournament, Fucsovics moves up almost 30 places in the world rankings and will be ranked 53rd next week.
ATP 250, BUCHAREST, FINAL
- Márton Fucsovics – Mariano Navone 6:4, 7:5
(Cover photo: ATP Tour)
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