NINGBO, October 20, 2019

Yasutaka Uchiyama is the champion of the 2019 International Men’s Tennis Challenger Ningbo. The No. 4 seed of the $162,480 hard-court event defeated Canada’s Steven Diez 6-1, 6-3 in Sunday’s singles final at the NingBo HuiFeng Sports Development Co.,LTD.

Uchiyama sent down seven aces and saved both break points he faced. The 27-year-old from Japan broke Diez’ serve four times to seal victory in one hour and 11 minutes.

“It was really tough at the beginning as I didn’t serve well,” Uchiyama said. “After a 3-1 lead in the first I started to find my rhythm and I was more aggressive at the end of the match. It was not easy to close it out but I am happy to win in two sets.”

By lifting his fifth ATP Challenger trophy, his second of the season following his triumph in Shanghai, Uchiyama took away from China $21,600 in prize money as well as 125 ATP Ranking points.

On Saturday, Andrew Harris and Marc Polmans captured the doubles title. The duo emerged victorious from the all-Australian final against Alex Bolt and Matt Reid by the score of 6-0, 6-1 in only 43 minutes.