LEXINGTON, Ky. — Qualifier Dabin Kim (KOR) completed her Cinderella run to the title, and [5] Jannik Sinner (ITA) won an epic three-set match as the 2019 Kentucky Bank Tennis Championships came to a close on Sunday afternoon by crowning the singles champions in both the men’s and women’s main draw.
Kim closed out her match in convincing fashion, winning 6-1, 6-3 over the second seed in the tournament, Ann Li (USA) on court two. Kim was up an early break in the first set and it was consolidated in the early parts of the set to take a convincing 4-1 lead in the opening set. A second break came on her third break point of the match and she moved to a double-break lead and closed out the set on her racket at 6-1.
In the second set, it was Ann Li that took charge in the early parts of the set, leading 3-1 with a break, but was then broken trying to consolidate the break of serve and that opened the door for Kim even things up at 4-4. Kim then broke the Li serve at four all and served out her first Kentucky Bank Tennis Championship.
On the men’s side, it was a great three-set final featuring Bolt and Sinner. Sinner took charge at 2-1 up a break in the early part of the first set and cruised to a 6-4 opening-set win with a break. In the second, it was Bolt that grabbed a hold of the set with an early break at 2-1 and served out his final games without a problem to force a decisive third set.
In the third, it was the Italian Sinner who broke at 1-0 to take a 3-0 lead in the frame before Bolt got some traction on his racket and was able to force a 5-4 game. With Bolt breaking after three deuces at four all, Sinner was able to break on his fourth championship point to put a bow on his first Kentucky Bank Tennis Championship title in exactly two hours.
Sinner served at 57 percent and won 72 percent of the points on his first serve. In front of the largest crowd all week, Sinner was 4-of-7 on his break points, including the last point of the match to win the title.
