Seyboth Wild emulates Nadal with ‘Golden Swing’ title

Brazilian teenager Thiago Seyboth Wild on Sunday became the youngest champion on Latin America’s clay court ‘Golden Swing’ since Rafael Nadal in 2005 when he captured the Santiago title.

The 19-year-old defeated second-seeded Casper Ruud of Norway 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 in the final to also become Brazil’s youngest ever champion at an ATP event.

Nadal was 18 when he triumphed at Acapulco in 2005 when the Mexican event was still played on clay.

Seyboth Wild will now rise from 182 in the world to 113 when the new rankings are released on Monday.

Ruud, the world number 38, had arrived in Chile two weeks after winning the Buenos Aires tournament, becoming Norway’s first ever ATP champion.

Seyboth Wild became Brazil's youngest ever champion at an ATP event https://t.co/E2zrTtpaNU

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“He proved that he deserved his wild card and took very good care of his opportunity,” Ruud told atptour.com.

“Even though I’m not that experienced myself, I can see that he’ll be around for many more years. Hopefully we can play many more finals together in the future.”