NOUMEA, January 13, 2020
J.J. Wolf carried his fine form from 2019 to the new season by winning his third ATP Challenger career title at the Internationaux BNP Paribas Nouvelle-Calédonie held on hard-courts at Noumea – New Caledonia League.
The 21-year-old US-American, who finished last year with a triumph at the JSM Challenger – Champaign, defeated No. 4 seed Yuichi Sugita of Japan 6-2, 6-2 in Monday’s final. For the first time since 2017 a championship match on the ATP Challenger Tour had to be postponed due to rain.
Wolf beat Facundo Mena of Argentina, No. 2 seeded Spaniard Roberto Carballes Baena, French wild card entry Alexandre Muller, Slovenia’s Blaz Kavcic and Matteo Viola from Italy en route to the final.
The former standout at Ohio State University saved all four break points against Sugita and capitalized on four of his own nine break point chances to prevail after one hour and five minutes.
Wolff took away from New Caledonia $10,800 in prize money as well as 90 ATP Ranking points.
The run continues!
J.J. Wolf is the champion in Noumea, kicking off 2020 the same way he capped 2019… with a 🏆 pic.twitter.com/EVjgY7t0RP
— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) January 13, 2020
On Saturday, Andrea Pellegrino of Italy and Mario Vilella Martinez from Spain were crowned doubles champions of the $81,240 ATP Challenger event. The duo fought past No. 4 seeds Luca Margaroli from Switzerland and Italian Andrea Vavassori 7-6(1), 3-6, 12-10. The title match lasted one hour and 24 minutes.
“Promoting young players is the DNA of our tournament. From a sporting point of view, we are very satisfied,” said Olivier Le Dain, President of the Caledonian Tennis League and director of the tournament.
For the 17th straight year, the ATP Challenger Tour has kicked off its season in the capital and largest city of the French special collectivity of New Caledonia, located off the east coast of Australia.
