METZ, December 18, 2016

The Moselle Open will be held in Metz in 2017. The tournament reached an agreement with the ATP after players seemed to prefer the city in northeast France over Taipei or Kazakhstan, which are countries that could have had offered more money in terms of prize money and in terms of bringing more top players to compete in the ATP 250 event.

Instead, the tournament remains in the hands of Yyon Gerard, who will have to ask for significant effort to offer economic support in order to hold pace with the St. Petersburg Open, which takes place the same week of September 18. Three top 10 players competed in Russia this year with Germany’s NextGen star Alexander Zverev lifting his first ATP trophy. 

In Metz, local favourite Lucas Pouille also claimed his maiden title on the ATP World Tour, winning the final 7-6, 6-2 over top seeded Austrian youngster Dominic Thiem. The tournament had a total prize money of €520,070.