Nick Tsagaris | James Duckworth Beaten In maiden ATP Tour Final
- 2. James Duckworth's run of nine-straight matches came to an end in his maiden ATP Tour final John Millman won the Astana Open in 2020 to claim his first ATP title
- 3. Australian James Duckworth has suffered defeat in his maiden ATP Tour final in Kazakhstan, losing in straight sets to South Korean Kwon Soon-woo. Duckworth, who had three set points in the opening set tie-break, only to drop five points on the bounce, was left ruing missed opportunities.
- 4. The Korean world number 82 broke Duckworth twice in the second set, claiming his first ATP crown after one hour 36 minutes. "Obviously I was up 6-3 in the tiebreaker and I somehow managed to lose that set. I probably lost my legs a little bit in the second set," Duckworth said. He also earned an early break in the second before 23-year-old Kwon hit back.
- 6. It marked a huge anti-climax for Duckworth, who after an 11-year career riddled with foot, elbow and shoulder injuries that required eight operations, was hoping to triumph at ATP level for the first time at the same event John Millman broke his tour duck last year. "It is difficult right now. I am pretty shattered. I imagine in a couple of days' time I will look at it as a positive week but today was pretty tough," he said.
- 8. "I am sure it will be more positive in a couple of days than it is right now." Still, his reward for two excellent weeks will be to shoot into the world's top 60 for the first time next week, jumping from his current ranking of 65 to 56. "All in all, I hadn't made it past the semi-finals before and I beat some real quality players from the start of the week and played some great tennis.
- 9. But he missed his chance to leapfrog the 55th-ranked Millman as Australia's number two men's player, behind Alex de Minaur. De Minaur is set to drop to number 26 when the latest ATP standings are released on Monday after struggling for form of late.