BANGKOK, January 26, 2020
Federico Gaio is the champion of the Bangkok II Open 2020 held at Rama Gardens Hotel Bangkok. The 27-year-old Italian benefited from the retirement of Dutchman Robin Haase, leading 6-1, 4-6, 4-2 in Sunday’s singles final.
Gaio, the No. 8 seed of the $54,160 ATP Challenger Tour event, advanced to the championship match with wins over Kaichi Uchida of Japan, No. 12 Denis Istomin from Uzbekistan, top seed Jiri Vesely from the Czech Republic and No. 14 seed Dmitry Popko of Kazakhstan.
In the final, Gaio broke Haase’s serve four times before the tenth seed was forced to stop playing due to heat exhaustion.
Meanwhile in Bangkok, Federico Gaio 🇮🇹 has clinched his fourth @ATPChallenger career title.
The No. 8 seed def. Robin Haase 🇳🇱 6-1 4-6 4-2 ret. pic.twitter.com/d5oSRBI7tD
— TennisTourTalk (@TennisTourTalk) January 26, 2020
“I am very happy with the win today,” said Gaio. “It was a very tough tournament, as it was very hot and humid but I played a very good level of tennis. Physically I felt good.”
The World No. 151 opened his season at the ATP Challenger in Noumea and also played in Melbourne but lost in the first round of the qualifying to the Australian Open.
By lifting his fourth ATP Challenger career trophy, Gaio took away from Thailand $7,200 in prize money as well as 80 ATP Ranking points.
Earlier in the day, Gonzalo Escobar from Ecuador and Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela from Mexico captured the doubles title. The No. 2 seeds defeated the all-Chinese combination of Mao-Xin Gong and Ze Zhang 6-3, 6-3. The encounter lasted exactly one hour of play.
