Stefano Napolitano capped a positive week by capturing solely his second ATP Challenger title with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Seongchan Hong within the closing of the Bengaluru Open on the KSLTA courts inside Cubbon Park right here on Sunday.
The triumph will make the Italian richer by USD 18,230 however extra importantly, the 100 factors earned will propel the 28-year-old — who final gained a Challenger greater than seven years in the past — into the 160s (from No. 204 on this planet).
At the beginning, there was little to separate the 2. The first 5 video games noticed three breaks of serve, and solely when Hong held to 4-1 (to like) did the competition seem to settle. Napolitano’s was the heftier stroke, however Hong scurried all around the turf, redirected his opponent’s tempo and appeared omnipresent as he took the primary set 6-4.
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But the 26-year-old relaxed a tad firstly of the second and very quickly, Napolitano was up 4-1. Hong continued to impress along with his courtroom protection and even ran up a break-point within the seventh recreation with a miraculous angled go off a low ball that was about to be wolfed up by the courtroom.
Napolitano, nonetheless, didn’t dial down on his aggression and duly levelled the match with an excellent scissored volley, getting the set-point with a stand-out shot.
The decider witnessed a repeat act; Napolitano went up 3-1 just for Hong to relentlessly sustain the chase. The latter even dug himself out of a gap twice — from 0-30 within the fifth recreation and 15-30 within the seventh.
But the stress lastly advised within the ninth as Napolitano got here up with three crunching winners to finish Hong’s resistance.
Source: sportstar.thehindu.com