NAPOLI, April 9, 2016
It will be an unseeded final at the €42,500 Capri Watch Cup in Napoli, as Arthur de Greef is set to battle Jozef Kovalik for the title on Sunday.
The in-form-Belgian, who knocked out top-seed Filip Krajinovic as well as the tournament’s number five Roberto Carballés-Baena en route to the final, defeated Marius Copil 6-3, 6-2. De Greef lost his service once but converted three of his own break point chances to advance after exactly one hour of play. The world number 206 aims to claim his maiden title on the ATP Challenger Tour, after he had reached the final in Buenos Aires in January.
“I am really happy to reach the final here. This is one of the best tournaments on the ATP Challenger Tour,” said de Greef. “I hope that I will be able to claim the title in order to get closer to the top 100 by the end of the year.”
De Greef will meet Kovalik for the first time. The 23-year-old from Slovakia knocked out sixth seed Gastao Elias 6-1, 6-7, 6-3. Kovalik withstood six aces, hitting three of his own and converted four of his 10 break point opportunities to reach his first Challenger final since losing to Maximo Gonzalez in Mestre last year.
“It was a crazy match, my opponent fought until the end of the match,” Kovalik was happy afterwards. “This is one of my best results.”
Gero Kretschmer and Alexander Satschko from Germany captured the doubles title, winning 6-1, 6-3 over the Italian combination of Matteo Donati and Stefano Napolitano. The match lasted only 57 minutes.
Back2Back Titles 💪 @head_tennis @SOLINCOsports #CapriWatchCup #Napoli #TeamKretschko #NumeroDue2016 pic.twitter.com/w7Dsxl8dvq
— Alex Satschko (@ASatschko) 9. April 2016
