MILAN, June 26, 2021

Italian wild card entry Gian Marco Moroni will challenge top seed Federico Coria in Sunday’s singles final of the €44,820 Aspria Tennis Cup, the lone ATP Challenger Tour tournament being held on the clay courts of the Aspria Harbour Club in Milan, Italy this week.

Eighth favourite Moroni knocked off Danish teenager and No. 2 seed Holger Vitus Nodskov Rune 7-6(4), 6-1 in the stage of the last four. The World No. 257 from Rome struck six aces and won 62 per cent of his first-service points to advance after one hour and 39 minutes.

“Gian Marco made a very good job,” said Moroni’s coach Fabio Gorietti. “Rune plays very well and it was difficult to find weaknesses in his game. Our idea was to push, to make him move and keep him away from taking the initiative. On a tactical level, we thought of playing high balls to his forehand and then attacking him on the backhand, as well as lengthening the rallies because we knew that he could be tired from his long match yesterday against Cachin.”

Later in the day, Coria defeated Frenchman Hugo Grenier 6-4, 6-3. The World No. 89 from Argentina converted three of his five break-point opportunities to prevail after one hour and 36 minutes.

Coria is bidding for his third ATP Challenger career title following his triumphs in Savannah, United States 2019 and Prostejov, Czech Republic last week. Moroni could hoist his maiden Challenger trophy.

The Italian won the only previous meeting between the two in the third round of the ATP Challenger in Perugia, Italy two years ago.

Czech duo captures first Challenger doubles trophy

Vit Kopriva and Jiri Lehecka

In other action, Vit Kopriva and Jiri Lehecka clinched the doubles title. The all-Czech combination beat Dustin Brown of Germany and Austria’s Tristan-Samuel Weissborn 6-4, 6-0. The encounter lasted 55 minutes.

By winning their first doubles title on the ATP Challenger Tour, Kopriva and teenager Lehecka split €2,670 in prize money and earn 80 ATP Doubles Ranking points.