SAVANNAH, May 8, 2017
After an electric Sunday afternoon, both the singles and doubles champions have been crowned at the $75,000 St. Joseph’s/Candler (SJ/C) Savannah Challenger.
In the singles final, No. 5 seed Tennys Sandgren took on Joao Pedro Sorgi from Brazil. In the first set both players held serve until late in the set when Sandgren saw his chance and broke Sorgi late in the set. Sandgren took the opening set 6-4. Much like the first set, in the second set both players continued to hold serve until Sandgren was able to break and take the championship match 6-4, 6-3 after one hour and 34 minutes.
Tennys Sandgren and Joao Pedro Sorgi (photo: Jacob Stuckey/Savannah Challenger)
Sandgren and Sorgi had never faced each other before, but only Sandgren was able to take home the $10,800 purse and 80 ATP ranking points to claim the third ATP Challenger Tour title of his career. On Friday, Sandgren also clinched the Roland Garros Wild Card Challenge and will be playing in his first main draw singles match at the French Open later this month.
“I have improved mentally. I am giving myself more of a chance. Competing well, fighting hard. My serve and my forehand have also improved, giving me some free points. That also helps a lot,” Sandgren told afterwards and explained how is going to celebrate his achievements.
“I am spending three days not moving, playing video games,” the 25-year-old US-American was joking. “No, I am just going to relax some days at home,” he added.
In the doubles final, No. 3 seeds Luke Bambridge and Mitchell Krueger hoped to upset No. 1 seeds Peter Polansky and Neal Skupski and claim their first doubles title as a team. In the first set, Bambridge and Krueger waited until late to break and take the opening set 6-4. In the second set, Polansky and Skupski broke early and were able to close out the set 6-3. In the deciding 10-point tie-breaker, Polansky and Skupski ran away with it 10-1 to win the title.
This is Polansky’s 12th ATP Challenger Tour doubles title and Skupski’s 13th. Polansky most recently reached the finals alongside Stefan Kozlov of the Elizabeth Moore Sarasota Open where they lost to Scott Lipsky and Jurgen Melzer. This was Skupski’s second ATP Challenger Tour final and first title of the year.
During the Doubles Trophy Presentation, St. Joseph’s/Candler announced that it would continue to be the title sponsor of the Savannah Challenger for an additional three years. The partnership between SJ/C and the Savannah Challenger began in 2015 as part of a three-year deal.
Challenger play returns to the USTA Pro Circuit in July for the Nielsen Pro Tennis Championship. In the meantime, players head to Europe for more clay court warm-up tournaments on the ATP Challenger Tour. Everything is on the line as players are battling it out for precious ATP ranking points with hopes of improving their ranking for the Grand Slams.
