Christopher Eubanks claimed his first ATP title when he beat Adrian Mannarino 6-1, 6-4 in the Mallorca final on Saturday.
The 27-year-old American, ranked 77th in the world, had never before reached even the semi-finals on the main tour.
On his way to the final, he saved five match points on Friday as he beat South African Lloyd Harris, taking the third set tiebreak 11/9.
Saturday’s final was less of a battle.
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Against a more experienced finalist, Eubanks immediately took the upper hand, breaking in the second game. He broke again in the sixth game and dropped only four points on serve as he took the first set in 23 minutes.
Eubanks broke in the opening game of the second set. Mannarino reached deuce on the American’s serve in the sixth game but could not break back.
“It means the world. It just means the world, man,” Eubanks said.
“It means a lot of the hard work I’ve been putting in, the ups and downs throughout my career, it all is coming together now at this point in my career.
“It’s just a testament to the hard work. Now I just want to keep working even harder to feel this feeling even more,” he added.
Eubanks, who won in 62 minutes, will break into the Top 50 for the first time in his career on Monday, the first day of Wimbledon, where he will play Brazil’s Thiago Monteiro (ranked 96th).
Mannarino, meanwhile, will face Alexander Shevchenko in the first round of the grass-court major.
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