BERGAMO, February 23, 2019
17-year-old Jannik Sinner keeps up his blistering run at the Internazionali di Tennis Trofeo Faip-Perrel in Bergamo. The wild card entry from South Tyrol cruised past Frenchman Tristan Lamasine 6-2, 6-3 on Saturday evening to reach his maiden final on the ATP Challenger Tour.
Sinner, who edged out Lucas Miedler of Austria, Croatia’s Viktor Galovic, as well as fellow Italians Salvatore Caruso and Gianluigi Quinzi to reach the stage of the final four, showed another impressive perfomance in front of his home crowd at the PalaAgnelli.
In his second meeting with Lamasine, the teenger prevailed for the first time, winning 76 per cent of his first service points. He broke his opponent’s serve six times to seal victory in one hour and 11 minutes. Sinner has become the first player born in 2001, who will appear in an ATP Challenger title match.
He benefited from a double fault on match point, but another impressive performance by Jannik Sinner! First @ATPChallenger final for the 17-year-old! pic.twitter.com/mEkNCBAH87
— Florian Heer (@Florian_Heer) 23. Februar 2019
Sinner will next face Roberto Marcora. The 29-year-old Italian fought past No. 15 seeded Belgian Arthur de Greef 7-6(3), 4-6, 6-3. In a topsy turvy encounter, Marcora sent down 10 aces, winning 53 per cent of the total points played to advance after two hours and 25 minutes.
Marcora and Sinner will meet for the first time with both players seeking their first ATP Challenger title.
Grigelis/Kolar take doubles crown
Earlier in the evening, Laurynas Grigelis of Lithuania and Zdenek Kolar from the Czech Republic took the doubles title. The unseeded team defeated Dustin Brown from Germany and Tomislav Brkis of Bosnia and Herzegovina 7-5, 7-6(7). The final lasted one hour and 28 minutes.
It was the third team title for Grigelis and Kolar, who lifted the trophies at the ATP Challenger events in Samarkand and Liberec two years ago.
Laurynas Grigelis and Zdenek Kolar
“We played a really good match today, maybe one of our best performances,” Kolar was pleased afterwards.
“It was an amazing moment, as we could already win a title in my home country. Now, winning here in Italy, close to where Laurynas live, that’s great. He is a good friend of mine, a good person. We signed in here at last minute. I am very happy.”
Grigelis, born in Klaipeda, has lived in the area of Bergamo for eight, nine years. “This is like my home tournament,” the 27-year-old told Tennis TourTalk. “Last year I lost here in the final in the super tie-break. This time I did.”
Kolar and Grigelis will next travel to France, competing in the inaugural ATP Challenger in Pau.
