VALENCIA, November 27, 2022
Oleksii Krutykh is the champion of the inaugural Copa Faulcombridge Ciudad de Valencia, an ATP Challenger Tour 80 clay-court tournament hosted by the Club Tenis Valencia.
On a sunny day with temperatures of about 20 degrees Celsius on the east coast of the Iberian Peninsula, the 22-year-old Ukrainian defeated French teenager and 2021 French Open Boys’ singles champion Luca van Assche 6-2, 6-0 in Sunday’s singles final.
Krutykh was in total control of the match, dictating most of the rallies by taking the balls early from the baseline. The World No. 252 capitalized on six of his eight break-point opportunities to secure victory in only 58 minutes.
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“I have no words to describe this final,” a happy Krutykh told Tennis TourTalk afterwards. “I went for every point, tried to be aggressive. We played earlier this season and it was a tough three-set match, so I knew a bit how to play but today was my day. I played amazing.”
It’s been a perfect week for the Kyiv native, as he also claimed the doubles title alongside Oriol Roca Batalla from Spain on Saturday.
“This has been the best week of my career so far. I didn’t expect to win the doubles title either, as I signed in with my friend Roca for the doubles tournament about five minutes before the deadline,” said Krutykh, whose tennis year was also affected by the war in his home country.
“It was the most difficult season in my life. I was at home for three weeks in January and the rest of the year I was at tournaments or at other places. It was a big challenge,” said Krutykh, who travelled the tour together with Ukrainian-born German Rudolf Molleker most of the year.
“Rudi helped me a lot this year. He is my good friend. We stay in touch all the time and we live and practice together in Berlin now.”
By winning his second ATP Challenger Tour career title following his maiden triumph at the Prague Open in August this year, Krutykh earned €9,200 in prize money as well as 90 ATP Ranking points. He was presented the trophy by the son of the first Copa Faulcombridge champion of 1933.
Krutykh will finish the 2022 season at the Maia Open in Portugal next week. “My goal was to enter the Australian Open. That’s what I did after this win,” he said and added about his goals: “Maybe to get into the Top 100. Why not?”
Bassols Ribera claims women’s title
Earlier in the day, Marina Bassols Ribera was crowned champion of the sixth edition of the Open Ciudad de Valencia ITF World Tennis Tour W80 tournament. The 22-year-old Spaniard defeated Ylena In-Albon from Switzerland 6-4, 6-0 in the women’s final.
Bassols Ribera broke her rival six times to succeed after one hour and 21 minutes. The World No. 162 lifted her eighth trophy on the Pro Circuit, the biggest of her career.
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“I stayed positive throughout the match, even when I was 3-0 down in the first set,” Bassols Ribera told Tennis TourTalk. “I was playing so good this week as well as for the last couple of months. I am super happy to win this tournament here in Spain and finish this season this way.”
According to tournament director Pablo Andujar, the event was a great success and will return to the tour next year.
