SURBITON/STARNBERG, June 5, 2022

Finals day at the LTA Surbiton Trophy saw Jordan Thompson crowned champion of the ATP Challenger Tour 125 grass-court tournament. The No. 8 seed from Australia defeated Denis Kudla from the United States  7-5, 6-3 in one hour 34 minutes.

There was very little to separate the players in the first set in a high quality match. With two breaks apiece the set was heading to a tie-break when Thompson broke in the 11th game to take the set 7-5. Kudla was unable to find the form that had seen him defeat Andy Murray in the semi-final and World No. 82 ran away in the second set 6-3 to secure the victory and go one better than his runner-up position in 2017 in Surbiton.

Thommo soars in Surbiton 🌱@jordanthommmo2 is the champion at the Surbiton Trophy, claiming his first career title on grass.

First #ATPChallenger 🏆 since 2018 for the 🇦🇺. pic.twitter.com/wIUd7ZEPpL

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) June 5, 2022

“It’s awesome to win the title here.  I thought I played a high-quality match today and I managed to come out on top and I couldn’t be happier.  This Challenger is special and Denis and I both enjoy competing on grass courts like this.  The clay swing was a little bit rough for me so I was really keen to get started on the lovely green stuff and it couldn’t have started any better,” said Thompson, who lifted his eighth Challenger trophy, his first since 2018 and his maiden crown on grass. The 28-year-old Sydney native earned €18,290 in prize money as well as 125 ATP Ranking points.

“It was actually a great week, first week on grass, so many things can happen, I’ve had plenty of years when I’ve lost first round and still didn’t feel comfortable on it but luckily here I was able to find my rhythm, I felt like I was playing really good, I was super-optimistic about today but Jordan played a perfect match, I thought I played a high-level as well,” said Kudla, who pocketed €10,770 in prize money and 75 ATP Ranking points.