MURCIA/STARNBERG, March 23, 2024

Portuguese teenager Henrique Rocha has reached his maiden final on the ATP Challenger Tour. The 19-year-old Porto native fought past Pablo Llamas Ruiz of Spain 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 on Saturday to advance to the championship match of the V Challenger Costa Calida Region de Murcia.

Rocha broke the No. 6 seed’s serve four times and won 54 per cent of the total points played to seal victory in one hour and 58 minutes.

👏 FIRST CHALLENGER FINAL 👏

Henrique Rocha upsets No. 6 seed Llamas Ruiz 6-3, 4-6, 6-2 to reach the championship match in Murcia #ATPChallenger | @MurciaClubTenis pic.twitter.com/V4T0DAu6NM

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) March 23, 2024

The World No. 248, a winner of six ITF World Tennis Tour titles last year, will play for the biggest trophy of his career on Sunday against Georgian veteran Nikoloz Basilashvili. The 32-year-old qualifier continued his fine run of form this week in Spain with a 6-4, 6-2 win over top seed Albert Ramos-Vinolas.

Basilashvili sent down five aces, winning 79 per cent of his first-service points to succeed in one hour and 25 minutes. The World No. 1086, who reached a career-high ranking of World No. 16 in May 2019, will compete in his first Challenger final since his triumph at the Neckarcup in Heilbronn, Germany almost eight years ago. Basilashvili could clinch his sixth Challenger career title in addition to his five triumphs on the ATP Tour.

Rocha and Basilashvili will meet for the first time.

Arribage/Cornea earn doubles title

In other action, Frenchman Theo Arribage and Victor Cornea of Romania defeated the all-Indian combination of Arjun Kadhe and Jeevan Nedunchezhiyan 7-5, 6-1 to captured the doubles title of the €75,825 clay-court event. The top seeds prevailed after one hour and 12 minutes.

By winning their first team title, Arribage and Cornea split €4,250 in prize money and earned 75 ATP Doubles Ranking points.