Albot Wins Again In Poznan
Revisit the week that was on the ATP Challenger Tour as we applaud the achievements of those on the rise and look ahead to who’s in action in the week to come
A LOOK BACK
Winnipeg National Bank Challenger (Winnipeg, Canada): Fifth seed Go Soeda of Japan rallied from a set down in the championship match to defeat Blaz Kavcic of Slovenia, 6-7(4), 6-4, 6-2. The win gives Soeda his 18th ATP Challenger Tour title, tying him for third on the all-time titles list with Paolo Lorenzi of Italy. He has now won at least one Challenger title for the past 10 years.
Despite the loss, the week was still a success for Kavcic. He was competing in just his fifth tournament of the year after being sidelined for seven months due to injury. His runner-up showing was his first on the ATP Challenger Tour since April 2015 in Batman, Turkey.
Poznan Open (Poznan, Poland): Top seed Radu Albot of Moldova won his third ATP Challenger Tour title in two months, defeating Clement Geens of Belgium in the championship match, 6-2, 6-4. The 28 year old also prevailed last month at $50,000 events in Furth, Germany, and Fergana, Uzbekistan. Albot has enjoyed great success before in Poznan, finishing as runner-up last year.
Competing in just his fourth ATP Challenger Tour main draw, Geens became the ninth qualifier to reach an ATP Challenger Tour final this year. The 20 year old defeated three seeded players on his way to the final.
San Benedetto Tennis Cup (San Benedetto, Italy): In a final featuring two unseeded players, Federico Gaio of Italy delighted the local crowd in winning his first ATP Challenger Tour title by defeating Constant Lestienne of France, 6-2, 1-6, 6-3. Rain wreaked havoc on the tournament, forcing Gaio to win a three-set semi-final earlier in the day over Arthur de Greef of Belgium. At No. 292 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, he’s the third-lowest ranked Challenger winner this year.
A LOOK AHEAD
There are four tournaments on the calendar this week, with the $50,000+H event in Tampere, Finland, taking top billing. The event is back for an astounding 37th consecutive year and features past champions including David Goffin and Robin Soderling. Facundo Arguello of Argentina is the top seed, while Jurgen Zopp of Estonia is the No. 2 seed. Other notable names include former Top 50 player Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo of Spain, while Geens will look to continue his form from Poznan.
The $50,000+H event in Recanati, Italy, is back for the 14th straight year. Two players in the Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings are competing, with World No. 79 Evgeny Donskoy of Russia as the top seed and World No. 84 Illya Marchenko of Ukraine as the No. 2 seed. Other notable names include #NextGen star and No. 7 seed Andrey Rublev of Russia and former Top 60 player Michal Przysiezny of Poland.
The $50,000 event in Binghamton, New York, returns for the 23rd consecutive year. #NextGen star Quentin Halys of France is the top seed and is joined by two other #NextGen stars, Americans Stefan Kozlov (No. 3 seed) and Noah Rubin (No. 7 seed). Another notable name is No. 6 seed Darian King of Barbados, who became the first player from his country to win an ATP Challenger Tour title with his victory earlier this month in Cali, Colombia.
Lastly, the $50,000 event in Gimcheon, South Korea, returns for the third consecutive year. Chinese stars Ze Zhang and Di Wu are the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, respectively, while Duckhee Lee of Korea is the No. 3 seed and Luke Saville of Australia is the No. 4 seed.
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