ZHUHAI, March 11, 2018
Alex Bolt captures the title of the 2018 Zhuhai Open, a $75,000 ATP Challenger hard court event. The 25-year-old Australian rallied past Hubert Hurkacz of Poland 5-7, 7-6, 6-2 in Sunday’s singles final.
Bolt struck six aces, winning 71 per cent of his first service points to clinch his second ATP Challenger crown following his triumph in An-Ning in 2014. The encounter lasted two hours and 13 minutes.
He’s back in the winners’ circle! @abolt15 celebrates his first #ATPChallenger title in four years, rallying past Hubert Hurkacz 57 76(4) 62 in Zhuhai. pic.twitter.com/4ZxT3T9GKD
— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) 11. März 2018
Bolt came through the qualifying and won seven matches on his way to hoisting the trophy, including a quarterfinal victory over World No. 117 Malek Jaziri, the Tunisian who beat Grigor Dimitrov in Dubai last month.
He takes away $10,800 in prize money as well as 80 ATP ranking points. The seven-match wining streak should see Bolt rise from his current ranking of 244 to inside the world’s top 200 on Monday.