Davidovich Fokina lands a first career title at the sixth attempt in Mallorca

Spanish second seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina finally claimed the first title of his career on Saturday, beating American Ethan Quinn 7-6 (4), 6-3 to win the Mallorca Championships at the sixth final of his career, on grass.

The 27-year-old had long looked too good to be without a trophy, and the wait had brought its share of pain – he had held championship points in two of his first five finals, including near-misses at Delray Beach and Washington last year, only to fall short each time.

There was no such hesitation here. Davidovich Fokina edged a tight opening set on a tie-break and pulled clear in the second, finishing in style by striking three aces in the closing game, the last of them on match point, to seal a win that had been a long time coming.

The title removed his name from an unwanted club: he is no longer among the players to have reached the world’s top 20 in the modern era without winning a tour-level title, a group that had included Jerzy Janowicz, Henrik Holm and Hyeon Chung. A former Wimbledon junior champion (1997), the Spaniard arrives at the All England Club with the monkey off his back and a first piece of senior silverware to show for a career that has often promised one.

Davidovich Fokina had reached the final with wins over Hungarian Fabian Marozsan (5-7, 6-2, 6-4), Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov (6-3, 6-3) and Australian Adam Walton (6-4, 7-5).

Quinn, ranked No 63, had been the week’s surprise package, coming through four matches – beating Portuguese Nuno Borges (6-1, 6-2), Czech Vit Kopriva (5-7, 7-5, 6-3), compatriot Murphy Cassone (6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-3) and Frenchman Valentin Royer (6-4, 6-3) – to reach the first ATP final of his career, but found Davidovich Fokina a step too far.