STARNBERG, November 16, 2020

Denis Kudla clinched the title of the Atlantic Tire Championships held at Cary Tennis Park in Cary, North Carolina, United States. The No. 2 seed of the $52,080 ATP Challenger hard-court event fought past No. 4 seed Prajnesh Gunneswaran of India, 6-3, 3-6, 6-0 in Sunday’s singles final.

Kudla withstood 11 aces and broke his opponent’s serve six times to prevail after one hour and 32 minutes.

Denis Kudla is the champion in Cary!@deniskudla rallies from a set down to claim his first title since 2018 at the @AtlanticTireCh.

Congrats Denis 💪 pic.twitter.com/HOmgr9mUhp

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) November 15, 2020

“This week has been awesome,” Kula said after the final. “It was more than I could have expected. I haven’t played a match since the French Open but I have been working a lot over the last couple of weeks. Everything kind of came together, every single match I played better and better. I loved being here for my first time. The hospitality and every single detail was great. I was happy to be here. I usually would say that I love to come back but I hopefully I will play Tour events.

By lifting his seventh ATP Challenger career trophy, his first since 2018 Drummondville, Canada, the 28-year-old Virginia resident pocketed $7,200 in prize money as well as 80 ATP Ranking points.

“I hope that this could be a stepping stone for other tournaments going to happen in the US. I look forward and I think it is a prime example how a tournament should be run under the protocols,” Kudla said.

The hard-court swing in the United States will continue this week. Kudla and Gunneswaran will both compete in the upcoming Orlando Open held at the USTA National Campus