Meet the last 4 teenagers to have won an ATP singles title
With his title at the inaugural 2020 Santiago Open, Thiago Seyboth Wild became the first teenager to win an ATP singles title this season.
The Brazilian wildcard, who had just two wins entering Santiago, reeled off five successive wins to become the 12th different player to lift a title this season, and the youngest to do so. With the triumph, Seyboth Wild moves to 6-1 for the season, a success % only surpassed by World No. 1 Novak Djokovic (who is 18-0 for the season).
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Seyboth Wild, in the process, became the youngest Brazilian player to win an ATP singles title, and the youngest since a certain Rafael Nadal (2005 Acapulco) to win a title in the Latin American 'Golden Swing'.
On that note, let us meet the last 3 teenagers before Seyboth Wild, to have lifted their respective first career singles title.
#3 Alex de Minaur (2019 Sydney)
After being thwarted in his first two tournament finals in Sydney and Washington DC in 2018, Alex de Minaur came good at the third time of asking when he appeared at his hometown tournament of Sydney in 2019.
The then 19-year-old beat Dusan Lajovic, Reily Opelka, Jordan Thompson, Gilles Simon, and Andreas Seppi - all in straight sets - to win his first career singles title.
In a successful second season on tour, De Minaur would go on to lift further titles at Atlanta and Zhuhai.
#2 Andrey Rublev (2017 Umag)
Andrey Rublev's breakthrough win at 2017 Umag almost did not happen; the Russian teenager had actually lost in the final round of qualifying to Attila Balazs. However, with local hope Borna Coric withdrawing from the tournament, Rublev gained an entry in the main draw as a lucky loser. And he made the most of his opportunity.
The 19-year-old beat Carlos Berloq and Andrej Martin in straight sets before needing a final set tiebreak to see off Fabio Fognini in the quarterfinals. Further wins over Ivan Dodig and Paolo Lorenzi saw Rublev lift his first career singles title.
#1 Alexander Zverev (2016 St. Petersburg)
Having fallen in his first two singles final in Nice and Halle respectively, Alexander 'Sascha' Zverev made his much-awaited breakthrough at the 2016 St. Petersburg Open.
The then 19-year-old beat Russians Karen Khachanov, Daniil Medvedev and Mikhail Youzhny - all in straight sets - in his first three matches, before another straight-sets win over Tomas Berdych landed the young German in his third tournament final of the season.
After taking the opening set against the reigning US Open champion Stan Wawrinka, Zverev recovered from the loss of the second set to lift his first career singles title.