Apia International 2017: Saturday Sydney Tennis Scores, Results and Schedule

Gilles Muller capped a fantastic week by claiming his maiden ATP title at the Apia International 2017, disposing of Great Britain’s Dan Evans in straight sets, 7-6 (7-5), 6-2, in Saturday’s final.

The Luxembourg star has endured 17 years of hurt waiting to get his hands on a trophy, and he ended his drought in some style with an impressive display against the ever-improving Evans.

Muller will now head into the Australian Open full of confidence and ready to put in a strong Grand Slam performance.

He was certainly strong in the opening exchanges of the Apia International final, kicking off the match with a service game to love.

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In fact, he was solid on serve throughout the entire first set and never found himself fighting to hold in deuce.

For Evans, however, it was a different story, as he constantly had to battle to stay in the set. Muller had two chances to break his serve and win the set, but the Brit valiantly held on to force a tiebreak.

The eventual champion was visibly frustrated at letting chances get away from him, and he was even more edgy midway through the tiebreak when Evans surged into a 4-1 lead.

However, Muller just about managed to regain his composure to win the decider 7-5 and take a precious 1-0 set lead, per Apia Intl Sydney:

That seemed to take the wind out of Evans’ sails, and it wasn’t long before Muller was celebrating the first break of the match to make it 2-1.

From then on, the result was only going one way, and although the Brit held his next service game, he lost the one that followed to go 5-2 down.

Muller duly converted the following game to finally end his wait for a first ATP title.

After the match, the Luxembourg player was understandably emotional when addressing the Sydney crowd and celebrating a momentous feat—via 7 Tennis:

Muller now goes into Monday’s Australian Open riding the crest of the Apia International wave and will hope for another successful week.

He’ll have to do it the hard way, though, with a potential second-round meeting against Milos Raonic in the pipeline.