PARMA, October 12, 2020
Frances Tiafoe is the champion of the €132,280 Internazionali Di Tennis Emilia Romagna. The top seed from the United States battled past No. 5 seed Salvatore Caruso of Italy in the title match, which was played on Monday due to bad weather in Parma.
Weather Update 🌧️🌧️
The singles final in Parma has been postponed to Monday due to rain. Frances Tiafoe will face Salvatore Caruso at 10am CET. pic.twitter.com/QtWl4OJY96
— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) October 11, 2020
Tiafoe advanced to the final with wins over Blaz Rola from Slovenia, Italian teenager Lorenzo Musetti, Filippo Baldi of Italy and No. 4 seed Federico Delbonis from Argentina. In the championship match, the World No. 64 broke Caruso’s serve five times to seal victory in exactly two hours of play.
“It was an intense week,” Tiafoe said. “From the beginning I had only one goal in mind, to win the tournament. I am really happy to have succeeded. I hope it is a new starting point to find a good ranking.”
By lifting his fifth Challenger trophy, Tiafoe took away from Italy €18,250 in prize money as well as 125 ATP Ranking points
“Now I enjoy the success and then I will focus on the ATP 250 tournament in Sardinia. This event was perfectly organized. I felt at home from day one, people treated me with enormous respect. Extraordinary work, without forgetting the quality of the food. I fell in love with Parma.”
His goals are clear: “I want to continue like this, improving my game in order to make it more consistent. This week I played very well, but without continuity you can’t get to the top.”
