BIELSKO BIALA, August 18, 2024
Alec Beckley of South Africa has clinched his first title on clay by winning the BKT Advantage Cup. The No. 8 seed of the ITF World Tennis Tour M15 event in Bielsko Biala, southern Poland outlasted sixth-seeded home favourite Pawel Juszczak 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 in Sunday’s singles final.
The matches started with a delay of about an hour due to bad weather but eventually took place in sunny conditions. Beckley dominated many baseline rallies with his dominant serve. The World No. 833 sent down three aces and broke his rival three times to succeed in two hours and 18 minutes.
Back on the ITF Pro Circuit 🎾
Final in Bielsko Biala 🇵🇱#ITFWorldTennisTour #TravelTheTour pic.twitter.com/exicMKG9uu
— Florian Heer (@Florian_Heer) August 18, 2024
“I felt that I was serving consistent and made my weapons count. I was moving very well and felt comfortable on the backhand. I felt good on court. I didn’t think too much. I just played and tried to enjoyed it as much as possible,” Beckley told Tennis TourTalk afterwards.
“I played league in Germany for one month on clay. I had a couple of tough matches and that made me solid in my whole my game. I got my confidence on the surface. Here it was tight in the second round, as I was match point down. But I hit a winner and now I won the tournament. Tennis is just a crazy sport.”
Beckley claimed his second career title on the ITF World Tennis Tour following his maiden triumph in Sharm-El-Sheikh, Egypt two years ago. It has been his first title on the dirt.
“We don’t have clay courts in South Africa. It’s something special and I will remember this week forever. I love this surface. It’s my favourite one. It’s an odd. I am surprising myself. I knew that I could do it, that’s what I figured out during the league competition,” said Beckley, who was supported by his girl-friend Gina, who lives in Frankfurt, Germany and is the daughter of former Polish Fed Cup player Magdalena Feistel.
“I met her in a tournament in Monastir and we have been together now for a year and nine months. She is also on the tour ranked about 300 in the world. Both of us, we are grinding on the tour. She was playing a tournament nearby and came to support me. She came to warm me up this morning and that was really great.”
Up next for Beckley will be two more ITF Pro Circuit tournaments in Poznan, Poland and in the Netherlands before competing for South Africa in the Davis Cup in Cairo against Lebanon.
