MEERBUSCH, August 18, 2019

Top seed Pedro Sousa is the champion of the 2019 Tennis Open Stadtwerke Meerbusch. The World No. 148 from Portugal battled past No. 3 seed Pedja Krstin of Serbia, winning 7-6(4), 4-6, 6-3 in Sunday’s singles final.

Sousa saved 16 of the 19 break points he faced, converting four of his own 11 chances to prevail after two hours and 19 minutes.

“It was a tough match at a very high level,” Sousa said. “It was an even match, which could have gone either way. I was the luckier player in the end.”

By lifting his seventh ATP Challenger career trophy, his second of the season after Blois, France, Sousa takes away from Germany €6,190 in prize money as well as 80 ATP-Ranking points.

Earlier in the day, Andre Begemann of Germany and Florin Mergea from Romania claimed the doubles title. The duo defeated the all-Indian combination of N. Sriram Balaji and Vishnu Vardhan 7-6(1), 6-7(4), 10-3. The encounter lasted one hour and 46 minutes.

It was the second team title for Begemann and Mergea following their triumph in Sopot. They will next play at the ATP Challenger in L’Aquila, Italy.

“Although we had some bad luck with the weather this week, it was a great event. Around 7,000 spectators came to the venue of the GWR Büderich this week. We are bound and determined to expand the tournament in the coming years,” said tournament director Marc Raffel.