STARNBERG, March 14, 2021
A new champion was crowned on the ATP Challenger Tour, as Evgenii Tiurnev took the title of the $52,080 Grand Palace Championship II by Formula TX in Saint Petersburg. The wild card entry from Russia capped his dream week on home soil with a 6-4, 6-2 win over No. 6 seed Kacper Zuk from Poland in Sunday’s singles final.
Tiurnev battled his way to the championship match with wins in the top half of the draw over Vit Kopriva from the Czech Republic, Altug Celikbilek of Turkey, Mirza Basic from Bosnia and Herzegovina as well as No. 4 seed Marius Copil of Romania.
The 23-year-old World No. 403 was rock solid in the final, fired 14 aces and won all of his first-service points to prevail after 57 minutes.
By lifting his maiden Challenger trophy, Tiurnev pocketed in Saint Petersburg $7,200 in prize money as well as 80 ATP Ranking points. At the same place one month ago, he clinched his 13th title on the ITF Pro Circuit.
De Jong/Verbeek doubles champions
On Saturday, Jesper de Jong and Sem Verbeek took their first team title. The No. 4 seeds from the Netherlands fought past Konstantin Kravchuk of Russia and Denis Yevseyev from Kazakhstan 6-1, 3-6, 10-5. The encounter lasted one hour and four minutes.
Twenty-year-old de Jong celebrated his maiden triumph on the ATP Challenger Tour, Verbeek captured his fifth Challenger trophy. The pair split $3,100 in prize money and earned 80 ATP Doubles Ranking points.
Dutch is clutch 🇳🇱
Jesper de Jong and Sem Verbeek reign in Saint Petersburg 💪
First #ATPChallenger doubles title for 20-year-old De Jong. Fifth 🏆 for @semverbeekNL. pic.twitter.com/AXjdd2DLxI
— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) March 13, 2021
