Bosnia’s Mirza Basic won seven matches in eight days to lift his first ATP Tour trophy after prevailing over Romania’s Marius Copil in the Sofia Open final on February 11 by a score of 7-6, 6-7, 6-4. Basic, whose stunning triumph included a win over Stan Wawrinka in the semi-final stage, started his week in the qualification rounds, where he knocked out Bulgarian wild-card Alexander Lazov, followed by his fellow countryman Tomislav Brkic. He went on to win his next three matches, against Germans Florian Meyer, fourth-seed Philipp Kohlschreiber and Maximilian Marterer before knocking out Wawrinka in straight sets (7-6, 6-4), the first seed and title favorite. The Swiss three-time Grand Slam champion, still recovering from injury, was a last-minute addition to the Sofia field, replacing home favourite and last year’s title winner Grigor Dimitrov, who pulled out before the draw, citing a nagging injury sustained at the Australian Open. “I’m very happy about everything this week. It’s the first title for me and the first final,” Basic said after the final, as reported by atptour.com. “Also, I’m very happy for breaking through after the match yesterday… After this week I will finally get in the Top 100. [After] this win, Sofia will always be my special place.” Basic entered the week as world number 129 and will jump more than 50 spots to 76th in the ATP Tour rankings.

Source: Sofiaglobe