Aslan Karatsev
beat
Lloyd Harris
in the final in Dubai
on Saturday
(6-3, 6-2) to claim his first ATP title, with which he is confirmed as the great revelation of 2021. The 27-year-old Russian, imposed the aggressiveness of his 27 winning shots in 75 minutes of a game without much history, the culmination of a perfect week in the emirate, where the champion had already knocked down
Andrey Rublev
,
Jannik Sinner
,
Lorenzo Sonego
and
Daniel Evans
,
"It was a very tight match and I felt very nervous," admitted Karatsev after beating the South African, who was also making his debut in a final.
"You never know when you will achieve these results. I have worked well with my team and my coach and now success has come," added
Yahor Yatsyk's
disciple
.
After taking forward the only two 'break' options he granted, one in each set, the winner settled the matter with an improper aplomb for someone who only two years ago roamed the
challengers
tournaments
.
"After the semifinal in Melbourne I continued training hard ... I arrived here with more confidence than in Doha. I completed a fantastic week, with good tennis," he analyzed.
End to Rublev's streak
A break in the second game was enough to score the first set.
In the second he started with another to solve the victory with another in the seventh game, which he later confirmed with his service.
Nothing could replicate the 24-year-old Cape Town player, who had already surprised
Dominic Thiem
, first seed in Dubai,
Filip Krajinovic
or
Kei Nishikori
.
In Friday's semi-final, Karatsev had also surpassed his compatriot Rublev (6-2, 4-6, 6-4) and truncated his spectacular streak of 23 wins in a row in ATP 500 tournaments, the second longest in history, only surpassed by
Roger Federer's
28 wins
.
Now, all fans are wondering about the takeoff of this player, who in January 2020 was ranked 292 in the ranking.
Born on September 4, 1993 in Vladikavkaz, capital of the Autonomous Republic of North Ossetia, his story is full of chapters on fighting adversity.
At just three years old, the Karatsev family moved to Tel-Aviv, due to the Jewish origins of Aslan's maternal grandfather, who today also works in Hebrew before the microphones.
The Tursunov umbrella
From Israel, always with the racket in hand, an indefatigable pilgrimage through Rostov, Taganrog, Moscow began. Under the umbrella of
Dmitry Tursunov
he moved to the German city of Halle and from there to Barcelona, where he exercised under orders by
Alberto López
, former
Garbiñe Muguruza
coach
.
Despite some prestigious victories in 2014 against
Nikoloz Basilashvili
,
Daniil Medvedev
and
Lucas Pouille
, there was nothing to suggest that the young man would one day reach the technical and physical foundations to rub shoulders with the elite.
In 2017, a knee injury stunted his progression and problems finding sponsors further obscured the picture.
The humble son of a woodcutter seemed doomed to irrelevance.
Karatsev, during one of his matches in Dubai.
However, at the beginning of 2018 he meets Yatsyuk, a former Belarusian tennis player, in Doha who convinces him to move to Minsk.
At the end of 2019, after two ITF tournaments in Doha and Qatar, both hire
Luis Lopes
, who at that time was working for the Qatari federation.
Physical work with the Portuguese has become one of the keys to his amazing progression.
Today, Karatsev has 12 victories in his 14 games in 2021, where he only lost to
Novak Djokovic
, in the Australian Open semifinal and Thiem, in the Doha round of 16.
At the moment he is the fifth classified in the Race To Turin, the ranking that orders the best of the year in the ATP.
Its success confirms the great moment of Russia, which last January had already raised the ATP Cup and which has also been able to celebrate the titles of Rublev in Rotterdam and Medveded in Marseille.
According to the criteria of The Trust Project
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