ALMATY, June 16, 2018
Austrian teenager Jurij Rodionov captured his maiden title on the ATP Challenger Tour, winning Saturday’s singles final of the Almaty Challenger in Kazakhstan. The 19-year-old edged past unseeded Serbian Pedja Krstin 7-5, 6-2.
Rodionov, who battled through the qualifying and knocked out the tournament’s No. 2 and Shymkent champion Yannick Hanfmann of Germany in the semi-finals, sent down seven aces and broke his opponent eight times to secure victory in one hour and five minutes.
By lifting his very first trophy as a professional at the $50,000 clay-court event, Rodionov earns $7,200 in prize money as well as 80 ATP ranking points. The leftie is projected to reach a new career high World No. 292 on Monday.
Krawietz/Mietz take doubles title
The all-German combination of Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies took the doubles crown. The top seeds beat Laurynas Grigelis of Lithuania and Vladyslav Manafov from Ukraine 6-2, 7-6(2) in Friday’s final.
Following their triumph in Rome, Krawietz and Mies took their second team title of the season.
“Two weeks in Kazakhstan 🇰🇿 come to an end with one quarterfinal and one title. Happy to overcome some difficult conditions and finish strong with the great Kevin Krawietz. Looking forward to my first grass tournaments,” Mies posted on Instagram.
