French teenager Luca Van Assche had one goal for this yr: win an ATP Challenger Tour trophy. With time almost expiring on the Challenger season, the 18-year-old achieved his objective Sunday on the Maia Open.
Van Assche, who has reached 4 Challenger finals prior to now two months, gained his maiden ATP Challenger Tour trophy in Maia, Portugal, the place he rallied from a set all the way down to defeat Austrian qualifier Maximilian Neuchrist within the championship match 3-6, 6-4, 6-0.
“It was an excellent week for me, I’m so comfortable to win,” Van Assche mentioned. “When I misplaced the primary set [in the final], I used to be occupied with it like, ‘I can’t lose 4 finals!’ I continued to battle and it labored. It was my objective to win a Challenger this yr and I did it on the final event of the yr.
“This is the largest day of my profession up to now and I hope there will likely be different days like this sooner or later. This is a little bit step in my massive profession.”
Van Assche, who’s one in all 9 teenage Challenger champions this yr, is the youngest French winner since Corentin Moutet gained the Brest Challenger in 2017. The teen is simply the sixth French champion aged 18 and beneath in Challenger historical past, becoming a member of Richard Gasquet, Sebastien Grosjean, Gael Monfils, Fabrice Santoro, and Moutet.
The #NextGenATP teenager, who began the yr ranked exterior the Top 500, went on a late-season surge, together with reaching the ultimate on the Lisbon, Brest, and Valencia Challengers. The title in Portugal lifts the 2021 Roland Garros boys’ singles champion to a career-high 138 within the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.
Players from France have mixed for 22 Challenger titles this season, marking the second most Challenger titles by a rustic in a single season, behind Argentina’s 23 Challenger titles, which the Argentines collected this yr.
In Maia doubles motion, British duo Julian Cash and Henry Patten defeated dwelling favourites Nuno Borges and Francisco Cabral in a match tie-break to triumph. The former collegiate tennis stars Cash and Patten have earned a record-setting 10 Challenger doubles titles this yr.
At the Maspalomas Challenger, Serbian Dusan Lajovic gained his first Challenger title since March 2018 (Le Gosier). The former World No. 23 defeated Canadian Steven Diez within the championship match 6-1, 6-4 to be topped champion on the eó Hotels Maspalomas Challenger.
“I began the match rather well,” Lajovic mentioned. “I’m comfortable I used to be in a position to achieve confidence very early and that gave me a relaxed peace of thoughts to proceed taking part in with the identical rhythm. I used to be in a position to preserve the consistency degree very excessive.”
Dusan Lajovic in motion on the 2022 Maspalomas Challenger. Credit: MediaPress Global
Lajovic, who turned professional in 2007, dropped only one set all week en path to triumphing on the Challenger 80 occasion in Spain.
In 2019, the Serbian loved his career-best season on the ATP Tour. Lajovic completed runner-up on the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters (l. Fognini) and gained his maiden Tour-level title on the ATP 250 occasion in Umag.