GENOVA, September 11, 2016

Jerzy Janowicz is the champion of the 14th edition of the €106,500 AON Open Challenger in Genova. The 25-year-old from Poland ousted top seed Nicolas Almagro 7-6, 6-4 in Sunday evening’s final.

Janowicz withstood nine aces from the defending champion, winning six of his own. He broke the Spaniard’s serve, who made it to the third round of the US Open and entered the main draw with a wild card, three times to prevail in one hour and 47 minutes.

The world number 247 continues his comeback tour, lifting his first trophy since 2012. Janowicz missed half of the 2016 season due to injury and returned to the courts at the Segovia Challenger end of July. With his fifth Challenger career title Janowicz takes away €15,300 in prize money as well as 125 ATP ranking points. On Monday, the former world number 14 will be back inside the top 200, ranked on 166th postition.

The organizers of the AON Challenger Open were pleased with the tournament’s figures, as more than 24,000 spectators attended the matches throughout the week at the Valletta Cambiaso Tennis Club. This exceeds the mark of 20,000 people at the 2015 edition.