The week’s Challenger finals have been decided, and there are some familiar and surprising names in the winners circle this time.
Anning: A familiar name to most tennis fans over the last fifteen years, veteran Janko Tipsarevic continued his strong year by taking the Anning Challenger in China with victory over young Frenchman Quentin Halys 6-7, 6-3, 6-4. The win did not come easily though, as Halys took the first set on a tiebreak, with an impressively solid set, only dropping two points on second serve (both double faults.) The match was decided though by Tipsarevic’s more clinical record with break point chances. The Serbian went 2/3 on such chances, and saved all four break points that Halys managed to create.
Despite Halys’ excellent run, the Frenchman actually accumulates fewer points compared to this time last year. He was the Tallahassee winner last year, and the final loss represents a point loss of five.
Tipsarevic will move back into the Top 70 and could move into the Top 60 depending on other ranking movements this week.
Tallahassee: It was a fine week for Slovenia’s Blaz Rola, as the former NCAA champion completed a run through qualifying to win the Tallahassee Challenger with a 6-2, 6-7, 7-5 win over India’s Ramkumar Ramanathan. It is Rola’s third career Challenger title, and first since 2015 when he was a winner in Santos.
Francavilla: It was a fairy-tale run for Portugal’s Pedro Sousa, as he took his first career Challenger title in Italy. The Portugese will move into the Top 200 for the first time with the win. He defeated second Alessandro Giannessi 6-3, 7-6 in the final. Incredibly, Sousa dropped just one set, to Marco Cecchinato in winning his first title at this level. Sousa picks up 80 ATP points and a winner’s purse of 6’190 Euros.
