DJERBA, May 21, 2018

Local favourite Moez Echargui is the champion of last week’s $15,000 Djerba Open, the 19th ITF Pro Circuit men’s event held on Tunisian soil this season. The second seed defeated the tournament’s No. 1 Pablo Vivero Gonzalez of Spain in Sunday’s singles final at Jerba Sun Club.

Echargui was in control of the match right from the beginning, broke his opponent six times to seal victory in just under one hour of play.

“It was a tough match, even the score might not reflect it,” Echargui commented. “It was a good week for me, passing through every match wasn’t easy for me but am glad I made it through. I am happy to win this trophy the second time at home.”

The 25-year-old lifted the trophy in Djerba in March. It marks the third ITF Pro Circuit career title for Echargui, who earns $1,944 in prize money as well as 18 ATP Ranking points.

Ghorbel/Mladenov take doubles title

Vasko Mladenov and Anis Ghorbel (photo: Manaa Mohamed Aziz)

Anis Ghorbel of Tunisa and Vasko Mladenov from Bulgaria clinched the doubles title on Saturday. The second seeded duo fought past US-American Hady Habib and Jose Fco Vidal Azorin of Spain 4-6, 7-6, 12-10. The encounter lasted one hour and 39 minutes.

“It was a great match with ups and downs due to the wind. It was tough to play in these conditions but we managed to pull out the third set in a tie-breaker and definitely gained some confidence for the next week,” Ghorbel stated.

“We are happy for this week. There were a lot of good teams and the guys fought really strong, but we managed to win this one and like Anis said conditions were difficult and we are happy we did it,” Mladenov added.