Alexander Zverev fights back to beat Roman Safiullin in Chengdu Open final, Karen Khachanov wins Zhuhai

Alexander Zverev won his second title of the season as he fought back to beat Roman Safiullin in the final of the Chengdu Open.

Zverev trailed by a set and a break but recovered to claim a 6-7(2) 7-6(5) 6-3 victory.

The win boosts Zverev’s chances of qualifying for the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals in Turin. He is up to seventh in the Race To Turin standings, moving ahead of Holger Rune with his performances this week.

Zverev, who also won silverware in Hamburg earlier in the season, started as the favourite against Safiullin and might feel he should have won the first set.

He appeared to have it almost wrapped up as he got to 0-40 when Safiullin was serving at 4-5 down.

However, Safiullin saved all three set points and then played a good tie-breaker to take the set.

Safiullin struck first in the second set, fending off more break points in the opening game and then breaking serve to move 2-0 ahead.

But Zverev hit back straight away and levelled at 2-2.

There were no more breaks in the set and the tie-break went to the wire before Zverev won two points in a row from 5-5 to level the contest.

With the momentum on his side, Zverev got the first break in the deciding set to lead 3-1.

That proved decisive as Zverev sealed victory with a love hold.

Meanwhile, Karen Khachanov won his first title since 2018 as he beat Yoshihito Nishioka 7-6(2) 6-1 in the final of the Zhuhai Championships.

As a result of an injury absence, Khachanov was playing only his second tournament since making the quarter-finals of the French Open earlier this year.

He was pushed by Nishioka in a first set that saw the two players trade breaks of serve.

Khachanov pulled clear in the tie-breaker by winning six points in a row, and the second set was one-way traffic too.

He broke twice to move into a commanding lead and sealed victory with a forehand winner.