LISBON/STARNBERG, October 1, 2022
French teenager Luca van Assche has reached his first final on the ATP Challenger Tour. Following five wins earlier this week, the 18-year-old qualifier benefited from the retirement of No. 4 seed Filip Misolic of Austria in Saturday’s semi-finals of the €45,730 Lisboa Belem Open.
Van Assche, who captured the 2021 French Open Boys’ singles title at Roland-Garros, was leading 6-1 when Misolic was forced to stop playing due to a hip injury.
What a moment for 🇫🇷 Luca Van Assche 🔥
The 18-year-old is into his first career #ATPChallenger final after defeating Misolic 6-1, (ret) in Lisbon!
📸: Sara Falcão pic.twitter.com/PP5GfHHizq
— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) October 1, 2022
The World No. 289 will face Marco Cecchinato in the championship match. The No. 5 seed from Italy edged past Timofey Skatov of Kazakhstan 7-5, 7-6(2). Cecchinato capitalized on two of his five break-point chances to secure victory in one hour and 53 minutes.
The 30-year-old Palermo native is bidding for his fifth ATP Challenger career crown, his first since 2018 in Santiago de Chile. The pair will meet for the first time.
Kolar/Oliveira earn doubles title
Later in the afternoon at the Club International de Foot-Ball in Lisbon, Zdenek Kolar from the Czech Republic and Goncalo Oliveira of Portugal clinched the doubles title. The third seeds defeated second-seeded Ukrainians Vladyslav Manafov and Oleg Prihodko 6-1, 7-6(4) in one hour and 12 minutes.
By winning their first team title, Kolar and Oliveira split €2,670 and pocketed 80 ATP Doubles Ranking points.
