ISMANING, October 20, 2019
Lukas Lacko has clinched his 13th title on the ATP Challenger Tour, winning the third edition of the €69,280 Wolffkran Open in Ismaning. The No. 16 seed from Slovakia cruised past US-American Maxime Cressy 6-3, 6-0 in Sunday’s singles final.
Lacko saved the only break point he faced and converted four of his own five chances to secure victory in only 50 minutes.
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“The result says that it was easy but it was definitely not,” Lacko told Tennis TourTalk. “At 3-3 in the first set I was a break point down but I saved it. Then I played a really good game on his serve, made two tough passing shots and from that moment it went a little bit easier.”
Lacko is known as a player, who performs well on fast surfaces. The carpet at the Tennis Club Ismaning was no exception.
“Carpet is really special, as there are not many tournaments held on this surface during the season. You never know and it all depends on how you start the tournament. I didn’t feel well in the first round but started to improve with the second round. In the end I liked the conditions here,” Lacko was pleased with his performance this week.
The Bratislava native beat Ukrainian lucky loser Vitaliy Sachko, defending champion Filippo Baldi of Italy, Russian veteran Teymuraz Gabashvili and German qualifier Julian Lenz en route to the championship match. Ismaning has been Lacko’s first tournament since the US Open.
“I am getting a little bit older and I had a lot of health issues this year. The second half of the season I also felt a lack of motivation and needed some break after the US Open. I needed to relax a bit and started to enjoy tennis again. This was a pretty good comeback after two months. I was top 50, I know everything about the game but now it’s all about the health and motivation.”
Lacko took away from Bavaria €9,200 in prize money as well as 90 ATP Ranking points, is scheduled to play two more weeks in Germany. “I should play in Hamburg next week. I will go there tonight or tomorrow morning and then I will decide whether I play or not. It depends on how I feel. Then I will play in Eckental, my home tournament in Bratislava and probably one more tournament in Italy.”
Halys/Lamasine win doubles tournament
Later in the afternoon, Cressy was back on court for the doubles final. The 22-year-old teamed up with fellow US-American James Cerretani but the team lost 6-3, 7-5 to the all-French combination of Quentin Halys and Tristan Lamasine. The encounter lasted one hour and 16 minutes.
“We returned very well today and made three breaks. That made the difference today,” Halys said. The French tandem won their second team title following their triumph in Noumea, New Caledonia last year.
“It’s always nice to finish the week with a win. We are very happy and I hope that there will be more chances to play together,” Lamasine added.
The pair will compete at the ATP Challenger event in Brest next week to finish their season.
