SAO PAULO, November 23, 2014

Second-seed Diego Schwartzman took on Brazilian wild card Guilherme Clezar in Sunday’s final of the ATP Challenger Tour Finals at the Pinheiros Sports Club in Sao Paulo.

The Argentine defeated top-seed Simone Bolelli winning 7-5, 6-4 on Saturday. Clezar saved three match points in an exciting second semi-final against Victor Estrella Burgos to prevail in three tie-breaks.

Both players met each other in the group stages earlier this week in which Schwartzman emerged victorious in straight sets. The 22-year-old from Buenos Aires was also in total control in Sunday’s encounter winning 68 per cent of total service points. Souza lost his service twice in the opening set and three times in the second frame. Schwartzman dictated most of the rallies from the baseline with powerful groundstrokes and sealed victory in 73 minutes winning 6-2, 6-3. The world number 77 earned 110 ATP ranking points as well as US-$ 84,900 in prize money and has become the second Argentine claiming the ATP Challenger Tour Finals title after Guido Pella was successful in 2012.

“It was an incredible week. The tournament was great, well organised. I’m very happy. Since the first round, I managed to play a good level of tennis. I played all matches really well. I got into the final with a lot of confidence. Clezar was a little bit nervous and I took advantage of that. My technique was was great too, all my strokes were going in,” a happy winner told afterwards.

Schwartzman captured his fifth Challenger title in 2014 and gained the most victories with 48 match wins at this level throughout the year – a fully deserved champion of the season finale.

Diego Schwartzman