MAIA/STARNBERG, December 12, 2021

Frenchman Geoffrey Blancaneaux capped his dream week at the Complexo Municipal de Ténis da Maia in Northern Portugal by lifting his first trophy on the ATP Challenger Tour. The No. 8 seed of the €44,820 Maia Open came back from a set down to beat No. 6 seed Chun-hsin Tseng of Chinese Taipei 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in Sunday’s singles final.

Blancaneaux broke his opponent’s serve six times and won 52 per cent of the total points played to seal victory in two hours and 24 minutes.

Geoffrey Blancaneaux completes the perfect week in Maia defeating Chun-hsin Tseng 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 to secure:

✅ First #ATPChallenger title
✅ New career-high (No. 234)
✅ Australian Open qualifying pic.twitter.com/eLMIoqecaL

— Gaspar Ribeiro Lança (@gasparlanca) December 12, 2021

“I’m very happy, this title means a lot to me. It was a very difficult year, in which I made some bad decisions and was injured for a long time, so this title is everything,” said Blancaneaux.

“I didn’t sleep at all, I was very nervous and that’s why I woke up at 4 am. I tried to stay relaxed and take my time because I just wanted to get on court and enjoy it.”

Blancaneaux pocketed €6,190 in prize money and earned 80 ATP Ranking points. He is projected to reach a new career-high ranking of World No. 234, which secures him a spot in the qualifying of the Australian Open.

The ATP Challenger Tour will stay in Maia for the Maia Open 2 to be held in the final week of the season.