Open Saint-Brieuc Harmonie Mutuelle
Great Britain’s Jack Draper has capped off a strong week at the Challenger event in Saint Brieuc with a 6-2, 5-7, 6-4 victory in the final over Zizou Bergs of Belgium.
The win keeps the 20-year-old’s undefeated Challenger final record intact and his Saint Brieuc success means he now holds a tour-leading four titles in 2022.
Draper will reach a career-high ranking of World No. 124 following Sunday’s match – good enough to see him installed as the fourth-highest Briton on the ATP rankings behind Cameron Norrie, Daniel Evans and Andy Murray.
Circuito Dove Men+Care Pereira
Argentinian Facundo Bagnis has claimed the 15th ATP Challenger title of his career with a dominant 6-3, 6-0 victory over countryman Facundo Mena in one hour and six minutes.
The top-seeded Bagnis, who ranks tenth all-time for wins by a singles player on the Challenger tour, dropped just one set on the way to the trophy in Pereira.
It was an ultra-consistent week for the Argentine who had only recently fallen out of the top 100 of the ATP Rankings after he failed to reproduce his 2021 finals appearance at the Chilean Open.
That rankings drop will prove short-lived however with the 32-year-old to be installed at World No. 93 when he opens his campaign at the Challenger event in Mexico City on Tuesday against Juan Pablo Ficovich.
AnyTech365 Andaluica Open
Former World No. 52 Jaume Munar has navigated a stacked field at the Challenger event in Marbella to claim the seventh ATP Challenger title of his career.
Sunday marked the third final in Marbella in as many years for Munar but it was ultimately the third time that proved the charm for the Spaniard who was a 6-2, 6-2 winner in one
hour and 26 minutes.
While Munar’s path to the title included two top-70 players in Slovakia’s Alex Molcan and the Czech Republic’s Jiri Vesely, his final opponent conquered an equally tough half of the draw.
Argentinian Pedro Cachin came through a gauntlet of names in Marbella that included 2020 US Open champion Dominic Thiem and veterans Philipp Kohlschreiber and Pablo Andujar, who have been ranked as high as World No. 16 and 32 respectively.
Both players will be rewarded with rankings boosts with a return to the top 200 of the ATP rankings awaiting the Argentine while Munar will be installed at World No. 78.
Challenger Banca stato Città di Lugano
Italian teenager Luca Nardi has claimed the title in Lugano after defeating Switzerland’s Lenadro Riedi in a tight 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 battle in one hour and 25 minutes.
Riedi, who defeated top-seed Maxime Cressy and fourth seed Pierre-Hughes Herbert, will improve his ATP ranking by 255 places following Sunday’s final but the plaudits belong to Nardi who is now 2-0 in Challenger finals at just 18 years of age.
With his record on the year in mind (10-3), you would be wise to predict that the new World No. 231’s trophies from Forlì and Lugano will be expecting more company very soon.
Oeiras Challenger 1
Former World No. 57 Gastao Elias has claimed a Challenger title in his homeland of Portugal following a 6-3, 6-4 win over Croatia’s Nino Serdarusic in one hour and 30 minutes.
The Oeiras crown marks Elias’ ninth ATP Challenger title and his first since May of 2021 when he defeated Denmark’s Holger Rune on the very same courts.
Portugal’s third-highest ranked men’s singles player will now be installed at World No. 173 when he plays his first-round match at the second Oeiras Challenger event in as many weeks.
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