MUNICH, May 22, 2019 (by Dietmar Kaspar)
M25 Doboj BIH – Christopher O’Connell clinches his second title of the season
Christopher O’Connell is the champion of the 13th Doboj Open 2019, which was held at Tennis Club Doboj. Due to bad weather, matches had to played both outdoors as well as indoors.
En route to the final, the 24-year-old Australian rallied past Argentinean No. 4 seed Juan Pablo Ficovich in the stage of the final eight in straight sets, followed by the win over ITF-entry Nerman Fatic from Bosnia and Herzegovina, who had to retire in the third set.
Runner-up Botic van de Zandschulp, who captured the trophy in Prijedor last week, entered the competition on position three. In the all-Dutch semi-finals, the 23-year-old battled down top seeded veteran Igor Sijsling, who was previously ranked ATP No. 52, in three sets.
In the title match, which had to be finished indoors, No. 8 seeded O’Connell converted only two of his 11 break point chances by losing one service game on the only break point he faced. After one hour and 23 minutes, the Sydney native claimed a 6-4, 7-6 win to lift his eighth singles trophy on the ITF World Tennis Tour.
Doubles champions Elmar Ejupovic and Robert Strombachs
„Thanks for this week, I really enjoyed it. It was a very tough week because of the rain. I played three matches indoors, then one outdoors. Starting the final outside, we had to move indoors to finish the match,” O’Connell said and added:
„I hopefully do not have to come back next year because of a better ranking. But if I miss to qualify for bigger events, I will return to this tournament for sure“.
The doubles trophy was clinched by the German tandem of Elmar Ejupovic and Robert Strombachs. They benefited from a walkover win in the final against Nerman Fatic with his partner Ljubomir Celebic from Montenegro.
M 15 Kampala UGA – Clay-court specialist Ivan Nedelko claims his third consecutive title
Top seeded Ivan Nedelko clinched the title of the UGPRO World Tennis Tour, held at the Lugogo Tennis Club in Kampala, to seal his third championship in a row on the ITF Pro Circuit.
The Russian veteran, who knocked off No. 3 seeded Guy Orly Iradukunda from Burundi in the semi-finals, faced Lithuanian qualifier Julius Tverijonas in the title match.
Ivan Nedelko
Converting three of his five break point chances without dropping a service game, 32-year-old Nedelko clinched a 6-1, 6-4 win in the final. After one hour and 41 minutes, the St. Petersburg native lifted his 23rd career trophy on the ITF World Tennis Tour, all of them won on clay court.
During the ceremony, champion Nedelko praised organizers and fans: „Thank you to everyone who made this week possible, as it was tough with all the rain. Thank you to all the fans who came to support us“.
M15 Prague CZE – Young gun Vit Kopriva gets surprising victory
The RPM Prague Open 2019, hosted at TK Spoje Praha, concluded with the victory of unseeded Vit Kopriva.
Vít Kopriva and Patrik Rikl
On the way to the final, the 21-year-old Czech defeated his No. 7 seeded compatriot Pavel Nejedly in the stage of the final four in straight sets.
19-year-old Patrik Rikl emerged victorious from the all-Czech-semi-finals against 20-year-old Michael Vrbensky in straight sets.
Kopriva broke his opponent four times by dropping one service game. After 63 minutes, he secured a 6-2, 6-3 victory to lift his fifth trophy on the ITF World Tennis Tour, all of them achieved on clay-court.
M15 Heraklion GRE – Teenager Yshai Oliel captures his first title of the season
Unseeded Yshai Oliel triumphed at the 14th Lyttos ITF tournament, which was hosted at Lyttos Beach Tennis Academy.
In the semi-finals, the 19-year-old emerged victorious from the all-Israeli battle versus No. 2 seed Edan Leshem in two sets.
Top seeded runner-up Lloyd Glasspool from Great-Britain went to the final by a tough three-set clash against Irish No. 4 seed Peter Bothwell.
Left handed Oliel withstood the 10 aces from his 25-year-old British opponent, to save a 6-3, 6-4 win in the title match after 70 minutes. The former No. 4 in ITF Juniors ranking celebrated his second trophy on the ITF World Tennis Tour.
M15 Antalya TUR – Turkey specialist Dimitar Kuzmanov prevails in Antalya
Top seeded Dimitar Kuzmanov clinched the title of the Daikin Cup Tennis Series, held at Starlight Resort Hotel in Antalya, to lift his 18th trophy on the ITF World Tennis Tour.
The 25-year-old Bulgarian had to compete versus No. 8 seeded Oleg Prihodko from Ukraine in the title match. Outpointing his 21-year-old opponent 79-72, Plovdiv native Kuzmanov sealed a 3-6, 6-2, 6-1 victory after exactly two hours to celebrate his 10th Pro Circuit-triumph on Turkish soil.
M15 Tabarka TUN – Local hero Aziz Dougaz celebrates home win
The Magic Tours tournament at the Thabraca Magic Hotel concluded with the victory of Aziz Dougaz from Tunisia.
The 22-year-old left handed rallied past French top seed Manuel Guinard in the semi-finals in straight sets.
21-year-old runner-up Jules Okala from France, who entered the competition on position two, took the last step to the final in defeating Italian No. 3 seed Luca Giacomini in two clear sets.
Capitalizing on 4 of his 6 break point chances by losing two service games, Florida resident Dougaz claimed the final win in two intensive sets after one hour and 52 minutes by the score of 6-4, 7-5, to lift his third trophy on the ITF World Tennis Tour.
M15 Kalmar SWE – In-form Markus Eriksson repeats dream week
The Kalmar World Tennis Tour tournament at Kalmar Tennisklubb culminated in the triumph of Markus Eriksson. Additionally to his singles title, the 29-year old Swede clinched the doubles trophy together with his countryman Filip Bergevi to succeed exactla the same way as in Karlskrona last week.
After defeating No. 6 seed and last week’s Karlskrona finalist Ronald Slobodchikov from Russia in the stage of the final four, Eriksson met his Swedish compatriot Dragos Nicolae Madaras in the title match. The Gothenburg native broke his 21-year-old left handed rival for four times without dropping a service game, to secure a 6-2, 6-2 win, lasting 51 minutes. Top seeded Eriksson celebrated his 10th singles trophy on the ITF World Tennis Tour.
M15 Valldoreix ESP – Clay-court specialist Orlando Luz celebrates his first title of the season
No. 4 seeded Orlando Luz, who was ranked ITF No. 1 as a junior, got the crown of the XIII ITF WTT Trofeo Tennium, which was hosted at Club Esportiu Valldoreix in Barcelona.
In the semi-finals, the 21-year-old Brazilian stopped the way of his No. 5 seeded countryman Felipe Meligeni Rodrigues Alves, who battled past Spanish top seed Oriol Roca Batalla in the stage of the last eight in three sets.
Unseeded Rafael Matos from Brazil made the last step to the title match in defeating Spanish No. 2 seed Jordi Samper-Montana, who had to retire in the second set.
Converting two of his seven break point opportunities without facing a break point against his 23-year-old left handed rival, Barcelona resident Luz secured the final win by the score of 6-3, 6-4 after 79 minutes, to lift his fifth trophy on the ITF World Tennis Tour.
M15 Cancun MEX – Ryan Peniston captures back-to-back titles in Cancun
The Cancun Tennis Cup, which was hosted at the Cancun Tennis Academy, concluded with the successful title defense of Ryan Peniston from Great Britain.
The 23-year old, who entered the tournament on position seven, rallied down Argentinean No. 6 seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry in the title match. Lasting two hours and two minutes, Peniston outpointed his 19-year-old opponent 77-66 to claim a 6-4, 7-5 victory. After his maiden title last week at the same place, left handed Peniston celebrated his second career trophy on the ITF World Tour.
M15 Casale Monferrato ITA – Francesco Forti clinches his maiden trophy
Italian young gun Francesco Forti is the champion of the 2° ITF Citta’ Di Calase Monferrato, held at Sport Club Nuova Casale.
The 19-year-old Cesena native, who entered the competition on No. 3, knocked off his 20-year-old compatriot Samuele Ramazzotti in the stage of the final four in three sets.
Russian top seed Alen Avidzba advanced in the semi-finals against No. 4 seed Giovanni Fonio from Italy in two sets.
19-year-old Avidzba, who is living in France and is coached by former ATP No. 86 Jean-Rene Lisnard, had to withdraw from the final, so Forti celebrated his first singles title on the ITF World Tennis Tour without playing the title match.
Additional to his singles trohpy, Forti clinched the doubles title alongside his contemporary countryman Mattia Frinzi.
M25 Luan CHN – Fajing Sun claims another home win
22-year-old Fajing Sun won the title of the 2019 Jin’an Open, hosted at Anhui Province Tennis Traning Base Tennis Court.
The Chinese No. 3 seed defeated his No. 2 seeded compatriot Yecong He in the semi-finals in straight sets.
No. 6 seeded Jie Cui from China battled past top seeded Thai Wishaya Trongcharoenchaikul, who had to retire in the second set, in the stage of the final four.
Outpointing his 21-year-old rival in two intensive sets with 72-67, Sun sealed a 7-5, 6-4 victory after one hour and 43 minutes. Following his maiden title in 2017, he lifted his second ITF Pro Circuit trophy on Chinese soil.
