Alexander Zverev rallies from verge of defeat to win Chengdu Open

The world number 10 lost the first set and teetered at 5-5 in the second set tie-break before rallying to claim a 6-7(2) 7-6(5) 6-3 victory.

World number 55 Safiullin had saved three set points at 4-5 and 0-40 down in the opening set before rising to the occasion in his first tour-level final.

But the experienced Zverev soon got his big serve firing and dominated the decider to seal his 21st tour-level title and his first on a hard court in two years.

"He's playing the best tennis of his life for sure," said Zverev of Safiullin, as per atptour.com.

"The way he was winning this week, I think he beat a lot of great players quite easily, so I knew that he was playing well. Obviously, I'm happy to be able to come back and to win this title."

Karen Khachanov ended a long wait for his fifth tour-level title as he beat eighth seed Yoshihito Nishioka 7-6(2) 6-1 to win the Zhuhai Championships crown.

Top seed Khachanov needed just 43 minutes to sink his Japanese opponent and win his first title since victory in Paris almost five years ago.

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