DOHA, December 26, 2017

Top seed Alexey Vatutin is the champion of the 6th Qatar ITF Futures 2017 held at the Khalifa International Tennis & Squash Complex in Doha. The 25-year-old from Russia edged past Benjamin Hassan of Germany 6-1, 7-5 in Saturday’s singles title match.

Vatutin, who defeated Arjun Kadhe of Indian and French qualifier Quentin Folliot, and benefited from the retirements of Briton Luke Johnson as well as Guy den Heijer from the Netherlands en route to the final, capitalized on six of his 17 break point chances to prevail after one hour and 11 minutes.

The World No. 172 clinched his fourth title of the season following his ITF Pro Circuit triumphs in Hua Hin and Trier. Vatutin also lifted his first trophy on the ATP Challenger Tour, winning in Poznan in July. With his win in Doha he earns $2,160 in prize money as well as 18 ATP ranking points.

Quentin Folliot and Victor Ouvrard captured the doubles title. The French tandem battled past Markus Eriksson and Sam Taylor from Sweden 7-6, 6-7, 10-5 on Friday. The encounter lasted two hours and two minutes.

Tennis action will return to the Middle East when many of the world’s best tennis players open their seasons at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open. Novak Djokovic is the two-time defending champion, having won back-to-back titles in 2016 and ’17. The ITF Pro Circuit will continue in Doha in February with the first $15,000 Futures event.