FÜRTH, June 5, 2016
The sun returned to Fürth right on time for the conclusion of the 38th edition of the €42,500 Franken Challenge on Sunday. Radu Albot defeated fourth seed Jan-Lennard Struff 6-3, 6-4 to claim the singles title.
In front of 870 spectators at the venue of the TV Fürth 1860, the world number 137 from Moldova was very efficient, converting three of his six break point chances. Albot won 76% of his first service points to prevail in one hour and 19 minutes.
“I fought until the end of the match and it was the first time I beat him,” Albot was happy by lifting the title without dropping a set. It is his third Challenger title, following his triumphs in Fergana and Kolkata. He earns €6,150 in prize money as well as 90 ATP ranking points.
“It is also my first Challenger title on clay. It’s a great achievement, as it is a tough tournament here with a lot of strong players. I am really happy about that,” the 26-year-old added and will leave for his next tournament in Moscow on Monday.
“It’s going to be another week, another tournament. Everything is starting from zero again and I hope that I will get used to the conditions pretty quickly. I will continue in Fergana, Wimbledon, Marburg and Braunschweig,” he told about his further schedule.
Radu Albot and Jan-Lennard Struff
Struff was obviously disappointed.
“He played very well and I was standing just too far behind the baseline,” Struff told afterwards, who finished runner-up in Fürth for the second time after 2011. “During the week I had several slow starts into the matches but I was able rally back. The quality of my game unfortunately wasn’t the best.”
Struff will play in Stuttgart next, facing Marcos Baghdatis in the opening round.
Earlier the day, Facundo Arguello and Roberto Maytin captured the doubles title, winning the final 6-3, 6-4 against Andrej Martin and Tristan-Samuel Weissborn, who didn’t lost a set en-route to the title match.
Doubles ceremony in Fürth
“It wasn’t our day today. We missed some easy shots at the important points, which made the difference in the end. We didn’t play as well as in the last matches. Our opponents played really well today, especially Arguello from the baseline. They just had a good day and also some lucky shots,” Martin summarized the encounter.
For the 24-year-old Austrian it was his fourth consecutive Challenger final, lifting two trophies in Ostrava and Heilbronn.
“It’s never nice to lose but I am not unhappy. Reaching the final is always a great achievement,” Weissborn told Tennis TourTalk. He will team-up with his usual partner Sander Arends in Prague again next week.
Facundo Arguello and Roberto Maytin captured their first team title
“Sander and I started to play together without thinking that we would stick together as a team for more than three weeks, but it worked out well and so it would not make any sense to split again,” he added, cracking the top 100 in the doubles ranking on Monday for the first time in his career.
“We are good friends and played very well today. We always found the right solutions in the difficult situations and capitalized on our chances. We are happy with the win and continue on the Challenger Tour on Moscow next Tuesday,” Maytin told.
