ISTOMIN LIFTS CHENGDU OPEN TITLE AS BAGHDATIS RETIRES IN FIRST SET WITH BACK INJURY Erlich and Qureshi pick up maiden title as pair with commanding finals performance Denis Istomin of Uzbekistan captured his first singles title of the year and the second of his career when his opponent Marcos Baghdatis retired with a back injury at 2-3 down on serve after just 24 minutes in today’s singles final of the Chengdu Open 2017. Istomin was the first to rush over to Baghdatis as the 32-year-old Cypriot sank to the court floor in agony and frustration. “I knew the situation because I also have a lot of injuries and have had to retire from matches before. Marcos and I are good friends so I wasn’t thinking about winning at all when he went down. First of all, I wanted to help him and see if he was okay. Of course I am happy to win the tournament, but not in this way. I hope Marcos gets better and can continue playing this season. I think it was very respectful for him to come on court and try even though he had started to feel the pain yesterday. He is a nice person and great player,” said the 31-year-old, whose maiden title came in Nottingham ’15. MORE >

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