Hyeon Chung beats Andrey Rublev to win inaugural Next Gen ATP finals

Russia`s Daniil Medvedev won the third-place playoff after Croatia`s Borna Coric pulled out injured.

Hyeon Chung beats Andrey Rublev to win inaugural Next Gen ATP finals
Courtesy: Twitter (@nextgenfinals)

Milan: South Korea`s Hyeon Chung upset top-seeded Russian Andrey Rublev to claim his first title at the Next Gen ATP finals in Milan on Saturday.

The bespectacled 21-year-old rallied from a set down to see off Rublev, the world number 37 who reached the US Open quarter-finals this year, 3-4 (5/7), 4-3 (7/2), 4-2, 4-2 in just under two hours.

Chung, ranked 54, sealed victory on his third match point after Rublev saved two to came back to 3-2 in the final set.

The former student of the Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy in Florida -- who turned to a mental coach to help him deal with the pressure of tennis -- receives the top prize of $390,000 dollars (335,000 euros) but no world ranking points for winning the under-21 tournament.

It was Chung`s third victory over Rublev, whom he beat earlier this week and also saw off in Winston-Salem on the ATP Tour in August.

Russia`s Daniil Medvedev won the third-place playoff after Croatia`s Borna Coric pulled out injured.

The ATP used the inaugural tournament to test a number of innovations with the promising young players of the season competing in the round robin format with the first to four games in each set winning -- a tie-break is used when the scores reach 3-all.

Changes also included no line judges with all calls made using Hawk-Eye Live, no lets, sudden-death points at deuce and a shot clock to ensure a 25-second rule between points to keep things ticking along.

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