Goffin bids adieu to clay with maiden title in Kitzbuhel
ATP Kitzbuhel
David Goffin won his maiden title over fellow first time ATP finalist Dominic Thiem 4-6 6-1 6-3 in the Kitzbuhel finale. Goffin beat Thiem for the third time this season and for the first time on clay, extending his matches won streak to a fantastic 20 matches in a row, 15 of those wins coming on the ATP challenger tour the previous three weeks before Kitzbuhel.
Goffin had wins this week over Kenny De Schepper, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Paolo Lorenzi and Maximo Gonzalez in straights before Thiem. Gonzalez putting up a career result with the semifinal appearance this week.
Thiem, who has had a history of losing his first final appearances at multiple levels, but bouncing back to improve and excel, had wins over Joao Souza in 3, Jiri Vesely, Marcel Granollers and Juan Monaco in straights to reach the final. The Kitzbuhel tournament concludes the tour level clay court schedule and Goffin will be back close to a career high ranking, and back in the top 50 when the new rankings are released. He had a slow slide back to the challenger tour but some recently strong play has repaired him back to ATP status.
Finns Henri Kontinen and Jarkko Nieminen teamed up to win the doubles title over Daniele Bracciali and Andrey Golubev.
—Steen Kirby, Tennis East Coast
Tennis Atlantic 