Bradley’s Best Wins: From Beach Proposal To Masters 1000 Milestone

“7/29/18 my best win yet!” Bradley Klahn shared on Instagram ahead of the Rogers Cup, announcing his engagement to Abbie Hageman.

Eight days later, from the beach in Malibu to the tennis courts of Toronto, the 27-year-old American qualifier celebrated another big win. Klahn upset former World No. 3 David Ferrer 7-6(5), 6-4 to record his first main draw win at an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament.

“It’s my first tournament as a fiancé,” he told ATPWorldTour.com after his match. “It’s been going pretty well.”

By virtue of his victory, Klahn also won the USTA’s US Open Wild Card Challenge, ensuring his place in the main draw of his home Grand Slam for the first time since 2014.

The Stanford graduate had done the maths and knew he had a chance to clinch the US Open wild card during the Rogers Cup. When rain halted play with Klahn leading 6-3 in the first-set tie-break, he killed some time by scrolling through Instagram and saw a comment confirming that a first-round win would be enough to do it.

Facing extra pressure once the match resumed a few hours later, Klahn maintained his composure to go up a set and a break. Though Ferrer got back on serve, Klahn immediately broke back, and two games later, found himself with two match points. Ferrer, the 2012 Rolex Paris Masters champion, saved both chances and a third match point on Klahn’s serve before the American pulled through to complete the 92-minute triumph.

“It was a huge win for me today, beating a guy of his calibre,” said Klahn. “It’s a big step for me, just the career he’s had. I have so much respect and admiration for the way he goes about it and his tenacity and making you earn every ball from first to last.

“For me to stay with it, especially losing the break there in the second, weathering literally a rain delay and battling through some nerves a little bit there and closing it out, I was really pleased.”

Klahn had reached a high of No. 63 in the ATP Rankings in 2014, but sat on the sidelines from February 2015 to November 2016 as he underwent numerous back surgeries. The California native rose back into the Top 200 in January when he reached the Newport Beach final (l. to Fritz) on the ATP Challenger Tour, and continued his steady climb to enter Toronto at No. 116.

Last month, he qualified for Wimbledon and won his first tour-level match in four years when he beat Yuichi Sugita in the first round. In his next tournament, he won the Challenger title in Gatineau, Canada. Now, Klahn will have a chance to take on No. 2 seed and defending champion Alexander Zverev in the Rogers Cup second round.

“It’s another great opportunity for me,” said Klahn. “I’ve been out on tour for a while, but still some amazing experiences are new for me, playing at this level, feeling more comfortable and getting wins under my belt. I’m really excited to test myself against the best, and Sascha has proven he’s one of the best one now.

“When I was lying in bed, not being able to really do much and wondering if I would play tennis again, these are the moments I kept in mind; to kind of keep that cherry out there to work towards.”