PARMA/STARNBERG, October 9, 2022

Timofey Skatov captured his maiden title on the ATP Challenger Tour by lifting the trophy of the Parma Challenger presented by Iren. The 209th-ranked Kazakh battled past Jozef Kovalik of Slovakia 7-5, 6-7(2), 6-4 in Sunday’s singles final.

In front of a large audience at the Tennis Club Parma, Skatov capitalized on six of his 11 break-point chances and won 52 per cent of the total points played to seal victory in three hours and eight minutes.

🗣 GAME, SET, TIMOOO! 👏👏#Skatov won the title in #Parma 🇮🇹#tennis #ATPChallenger #ParmaChallenger @ATPChallenger @ComuneParma @parmawelcomeoff pic.twitter.com/zPLmXXLPhJ

— MEF tennis events (@meftennisevents) October 9, 2022

“A very hard week ends but it has become the most beautiful of my career,” said Skatov. “Winning the first Challenger title makes me feel great, but it’s just the beginning. From tomorrow I will think about the next tournaments and I will continue to train to do even better. Goal for the next two years? I think aiming for the top 50 is realistic.”

The 21-year-old Petropavl native, who had a career-high ITF junior combined ranking of World No. 1 in January 2018, earned €18,290 in prize money as well as 125 ATP Ranking points.