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Goffin Wins Back-To-Back Titles

Oct 9th 2017
David Goffin

David Goffin defeated Adrian Mannarino 6-3, 7-5 to win the Rakuten Japan Open.

- David Goffin captured his first ATP World Tour 500 title in Tokyo, adding to the ATP World Tour title he won last week at the Shenzhen Open (d. Dolgopolov).
- Having started the week at No. 13 in the Emirates ATP Race To London, Goffin added a further 200 points on Sunday to move up one spot to No. 8 ahead of Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta in the battle to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held at The O2 in London from 12-19 November.
- The Belgian won his fourth ATP World Tour title (4-6 overall in finals). Last year, Goffin had finished as runner-up to Australia’s Nick Kyrgios in the Tokyo title match.
- The 29-year-old Mannarino, who is now 0-4 in ATP World Tour finals, recorded the biggest victory of his career in the Tokyo semi-finals on Saturday by beating top-seeded Croatian Marin Cilic.
- The Frenchman is now 28-23 on the season, which also includes a runner-up finish at the Antalya Open (l. to Sugita).
- Ben Mclachlan and Yasutaka Uchiyama had the Ariake Colosseum rocking when they won their first ATP World Tour doubles team title and became the first all-Japanese titlists in Tokyo for 12 years. Her Imperial Highness Princess Mako of Japan watched the historic final unfold.
- The Japanese wild cards capped off a memorable week that saw them knock out another team in contention for next month’s Nitto ATP Finals, top seeds and recent US Open champions Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau, in the first round.

WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID
Goffin
“It’s a really special trophy for me, as I won the tournament last week and now have again today… It’s a special feeling at a tournament I like. I have a lot of happy memories in Tokyo. It’s difficult to describe my feelings.
“It’s important for me to stay fresh physically and mentally… I am ready fight and I want to keep winning.”

Mannarino
“David played really well… He broke me once in the first set, but he played three or four winners in a row, so it wasn’t easy. I got the break in the second set, but couldn’t hold my serve. The quality of the game was really good, but I wasn’t good enough compared to him. I’ve had a pretty good season, definitely my best so far.”

Mclachlan
β€œI am happy that I played my very best today. We got better and stronger with each match.”

Uchiyama
β€œIt hasn't really sunk in… We have been the challengers all week and today as well, but I noticed that they were feeling the pressure and at that point, we were able to play well and push our way to a victory. It showed us that if we play at our best, we can beat anyone.”