PORTO/STARNBERG, August 31, 2024
Carlos Taberner of Spain and Bulgarian Adrian Andreev are set to face off in the final of the CT Porto Cup, a new ATP Challenger Tour event organized by the Portuguese Tennis Federation and the Porto Tennis Club, with support from the Porto City Council.
No. 4 seed Taberner reached the championship match by rallying past Santiago Rodriguez Taverna 5-7, 6-0, 6-0. Taberner, a former top-100 player now ranked 234th, turned the match around after losing the first set, ending with a dominant double bagel in the final two sets against the World No. 237 from Argentina.
The 27-year-old from Valencia continued his winning streak against Rodriguez Taverna, whom he had defeated in the final of the Todi Challenger just two weeks earlier. This victory marked his ninth consecutive win and his 13th in his last 14 matches. Taberner had also reached another ATP Challenger final in Cordenons before his Todi triumph.
Andreev, ranked 261st, needed less time to secure his place in the final. He defeated Nikolas Sanchez Izquierdo, the only unseeded semifinalist, 6-4, 6-1 in a match that pitted two doubles partners against each other. Andreev broke his opponent’s serve five times, saved six of the seven break points he faced, and effectively utilized his powerful backhand to control the match.
The Bulgarian 🦁 roars into the final!
Andreev will play for his maiden Challenger trophy in Porto after a straight sets win over Sanchez Izquierdo 6-4, 6-1.#ATPChallenger pic.twitter.com/cKjZ4tGwM5
— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) August 31, 2024
Izquierdo, who was seeking his first ATP Challenger final after a previous semifinal loss in Braga in 2021, was outplayed by Andreev, who will now contest his second Challenger final, having finished as runner-up in Zadar five months ago.
Taberner, who has the more decorated career, will be competing in his 12th Challenger final on Sunday, aiming for his eighth career title and his second of 2024.
The winner of this final will complete the list of champions for the first edition of the CT Porto Cup, following the doubles title won by Israel’s Daniel Cukierman and Poland’s Piotr Matuszewski. In the doubles final, the second-seeded duo defeated Monaco’s Romain Arneodo and France’s Theo Arribage 6-4, 6-0 to claim their second title on Portuguese soil, though it was their first as a team. Cukierman previously won the Porto Open (then ITF World Tennis Tour M25) at Monte Aventino in 2019, while Matuszewski claimed the Indoor Oeiras Open 2 title earlier this year.
