Sebastian Korda said he had achieved one of the biggest goals of his career by capturing the Washington Open title and emulating hit father Petr, who won the tournament 32 years ago.
The younger Korda’s 4-6, 6-2, 6-0 win over Flavio Cobolli on Sunday marked the first time in ATP Tour history that a father and son had both won the same event.
Czech Petr Korda won the event in 1992.
“I’ve been coming to this tournament since I was a teenager. My dad used to coach Radek Stepanek, who also won here in 2011,” said American Korda, who is now coached by Stepanek.
“We have a lot of history with this tournament. One of my biggest goals was one day coming here and hopefully winning the tournament and putting my name up there on the stadium.
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“This is probably the most special moment of my career so far.”
Victory also ensured Korda became the first U.S. man to win the Washington crown since Andy Roddick in 2007, as he gears up for the U.S. Open beginning on Aug. 26.
Korda is among a group of U.S. men looking to end the country’s 21-year Grand Slam drought since Roddick’s triumph at his home Grand Slam, and he said there was “healthy jealousy” between them.
“When someone does a great result, the other guys want to do an even better one,” said Korda, who reached a career-high world number 18 on Monday.
“It’s really great that all the Americans are close. All the Americans are playing really great tennis right now. Hopefully we can make a big push in the coming Grand Slam soon.”
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