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Bosnian Damir Dzumhur wins 1st title in St. Petersburg

Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina returns the ball to Fabio Fognini of Italy during the St. Petersburg Open ATP tennis tournament final match in St.Petersburg, Russia, Sunday, Sept. 24, 2017. (Dmitri Lovetsky / Associated Press)
Associated Press

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia – Unseeded Damir Dzumhur became the first player from Bosnia-Herzegovina to win an ATP World Tour singles title, beating Fabio Fognini 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 Sunday in the final of the St. Petersburg Open.

The 25-year-old Dzumhur’s maiden title came after reaching his first career final in Winston-Salem in August.

“I couldn’t find my best rhythm, couldn’t find my best game,” Dzumhur said. “But the experience of playing one final already helped me a lot and in the end I won.”

The third-seeded Fognini was chasing his second title of the year after Gstaad in July. He eliminated top-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut in the semifinals here and was also a finalist at the tournament in 2012.

Fognini cruised through the opener on the indoor hard-court with two breaks of serve, but the Italian lost four straight from 4-4 in the second. That included his serve in the opening game of the decider, and a second break in the seventh game helped sealed victory for Dzumhur.

Dzumhur improved his record since the end of July to 15-3.

Roman Jebavy and Matwe Middelkoop defeated Julio Peralta and Horacio Zeballos 6-4, 6-4 to win the doubles title.