MAIA/STARNBERG, December 15, 2021
Elmar Ejupovic has reached the quarterfinals of an ATP Challenger Tour event for the first time. In the final week of the 2021 season at the Maia Open 2, the 28-year-old German qualifier upset World No. 206 Kimmer Coppejans of Belgium 6-4, 6-4 in Wednesday’s second round of the €44,820 indoor clay-court tournament in Northern Portugal.
Ejupovic, a winner of six singles titles on the ITF Pro Circuit, saved all eight break points he faced and capitalized on two of his own seven break-point opportunities to secure victory in one hour and 42 minutes.
28-years-old Elmar Ejupovic (#436) upsets second seed Kimmer Coppejans 6-4, 6-4 to record the biggest win of his career and reach the QFs of an #ATPChallenger for the first time. You can see this means a lot. pic.twitter.com/9QbyHd0FH7
— Gaspar Ribeiro Lança (@gasparlanca) December 15, 2021
“I am super happy with the game that I played and I am enjoying the week,” Ejupovic said during his post-match press conference.
“I just tried to focus on myself today and kept pushing. Getting to my first quarterfinal is something special, especially here in Maia as the people are super nice and friendly.”
Ejupovic explained that he reached a career-high ranking of World No. 381 in October 2018 before the ranking system was changed, which forced him to climb up the positions again, competing at Futures level. The Wolfsburg native will next take on either Elliot Benchetrit of Morocco or Nick Hardt from the Dominican Republic.
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In first-round action, last week’s Maia Open runner-up Chun-hsin Tseng of Chinese Taipei defeated Italian veteran Matteo Viola 6-3, 6-4. The No. 7 seed will next play Fabian Marozsan from Hungary.
Eduard Esteve Lobato from Spain beat Ukrainian Oleg Prihodko 6-3, 6-2 to meet Romanian teenager Filip Cristian Jianu in the second round.
