HEILBRONN, May 19, 2019
Filip Krajinovic is the champion of the Neckarcup 2019. The top seed from Serbia, who entered the €92,040 ATP Challenger clay-court event with a wild card, eased past Arthur de Greef of Belgium, winning 6-3, 6-1 in Sunday’s singles final.
The World No. 69 capitalized on five of his six break point chances, outpointing his opponent 57-38 to secure a comfortable 6-3, 6-1 victory in one hour and two minutes.
“I had a slow start into the match today,” Krajinovic said afterwards. “However, I found a way and started to play more aggressive. I am really happy with this win. It means a lot to me. I came here to claim the title and so I did. It’s been a long but great week for me.”
By lifting his 10th title on the ATP Challenger Tour, his second in Heilbronn after 2017, Krajinovic took away from Germany €12,250 in prize money as well as 100 ATP-Ranking points.
“I really love it here. The Center Court, the tournament director, the entire organization is great. Nonetheless, I hope that I will be playing in Rome at this time next year, but you never know.”
Next up for Krajinovic will be Roland Garros. However, the Belgrade resident forgot to enter the qualifying tournament, so he has to hope for a spot as an alternate in the main draw. Asked, how that could happen, Krajinovic commented with a smile, “I am an idiot”, and left the venue heading for the airport to catch a flight to Paris.
Final day in Heilbronn. #Neckarcup pic.twitter.com/eDNXbCnfb4
— Florian Heer (@Florian_Heer) 19. Mai 2019
Krawietz/Mies win third team title of the season
Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies
Earlier in the day, Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies took the doubles title. The top seeds from Germany defeated fellow countryman Andre Begemann and Fabrice Martin of France 6-2, 6-4 in just under one hour of play.
Krawietz and Mies, who finished runner-up in Heilbronn last year, clinched their third team title of the season following their triumphs at the New York Open and the ATP Challenger in Marbella.
“We are really happy to eventually win the trophies here. We lost in the champions tie-break in last year’s final and left the tournament being pretty disappointed,” Mies told Tennis TourTalk afterwards. “We were solid on serve today and were able to put some pressure on our opponents. That was key today.”
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@kevinkrawietz & @andreas_mies win the doubles title at @neckarcup in Heilbronn.
Last week the successful tandem split for one week when Krawietz took the doubles crown alongside Austrian veteran Jürgen Melzer at the Open Pays d’Aix.
“The actual plan was to play singles in France,” Krawietz explained. “However, there was the chance to team-up with Jürgen and so I decided to compete in doubles as well. Winning the title there was really nice.”
Mies played at the $15,000 ITF World Tennis Tour event in Troisdorf alongside a long-time friend of him. “It was a spontaneous decision to play there. I was at home in Cologne and he called me and said he has a wild card for the tournament and is looking for a partner. Firstly, I thought it was a joke but in the end it was great practice. It was really fun and we had a couple of matches, losing in the final.”
Krawietz and Mies will next play at the French Open, competing in their second Grand Slam tournament together after reaching the Round of 16 at Wimbledon last year.
