SOPHIA ANTIPOLIS, April 9, 2017

Aljaz Bedene is the champion of the inaugural €64,000 Verrazzano Open held at the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy in Sophia Antipolis. The fourth seed from Great Britain upset the tournament’s number one, Benoit Paire, in Sunday’s singles final, winning 6-2, 6-2.

Bedene saved the only break point he faced, converting four of his own chances to celebrate victory in one hour and nine minutes.

It was Bedene second title of the season following his triumph at the Irving Tennis Classic last month. By claiming his 13th ATP Challenger career title, the 27-year-old Ljubljana native takes away €9,200 in prize money as well as 90 ATP Ranking points.

“It has been a great week for me. I played really really well and it was great stay here. The tournament is like at ATP level,” told Bedene, who clinched the title without dropping a set.

Great week in Sophia-Antipolis @mouratoglouacademy. Nice to receive the trophy from royalty in @andy_murray as well 😉💪 pic.twitter.com/wOrIOpr5C5

— Aljaz Bedene (@AljazBedene) 9. April 2017

Bedene will next play the Open Citta’ Della Disfida in Barletta, starting his title bid against Marco Trungellitti of Argentina. The right hander is a two time champion Barletta champion (2011 and 2012).

Paire still has to wait to lift his first trophy since the ATP Challenger in Mouilleron-Le-Captif in November 2015.

Lamasine/Skugor Take Second Doubles Title

Earlier the day, Tristan Lamasine of France and Croatian Franko Skugor captured the doubles title with a 6-2, 6-2 win over Uladzimir Ignatik from Belarus and Slovakian Jozef Kovalik. The encounter lasted 55 minutes.

“It was a great week with Franko here. We won our second team title,” Lamasine told afterwards. “It has been my first time here at the Acadamy. I arrived Tuesday before the start of the tournament to have a few days of practice. It was a great stay here with a lot of sunny days.”

Skugor added: “The site here is amazing and it was a very nice tournament. I enjoyed my stay very much.”