ILKLEY, June 25, 2018

It was scorching sunshine coupled with tantalising tennis in the final day at the Fuzion 100 Ilkley Trophy, with Sergiy Stakhovsky from Ukraine taking the trophy in the men’s singles and Tereza Smitkova from the Czech Republic taking the women’s singles title. Both players were also awarded wild cards into the Wimbledon main draw, which begins on Monday, 2 July.

Stakhovsky beat 24-year old German Oscar Otte 6-4, 6-4 in Sunday’s singles final to clinch the €127,000 ATP Challenger title. The No. 8 seed sent down six aces, winning 70 per cent of his first service points to secure victory in one hour and 16 minutes.

“I feel great, it’s definitely been a great week for me this year. Starting from the first round I didn’t think I’d be in this position, but I’m happy with the way I performed this week. My consistency and my focus was there, so I’m really pleased with the final result, and of course I’m really happy with the Wimbledon wild card,” Stakhovsky said.

Smitkova fights past Yastremska

Tereza Smitkova (photo: Karen Ross)

It was a more difficult match for Smitkova, who edged past 18-year-old Ukrainian Dayana Yastremska. 

After losing the first set 6-7(2), Yastremska came back to win the second set 6-3. However, Smitkova proved too strong for the teenager, winning the final set 7-6(4) and taking the Ilkley title.

The final lasted two hours and 25 minutes.