ILKLEY, June 24, 2019
Dominik Koepfer captured his first singles title on the ATP Challenger Tour, winning the 2019 Ilkley Trophy. The 25-year-old German battled past No. 9 seeded Austrian Dennis Novak 3-6, 6-3, 7-6(5) in a dramatic final on Sunday.
Koepfer saved one match point in the 10th game of the third set and finished the encounter in the tie-break after one hour after 49 minutes.
He collected €18,290 in prize money as well as 125 ATP-Ranking points. Moreover, Koepfer earned a wild card into the main draw at Wimbledon and reaches a new career high World No. 132 on Monday.
Our 2019 #IlkleyTrophy champion @DominikKoepfer 🏆 looks forward to @Wimbledon 🎾 pic.twitter.com/sbrxHaClXn
— ILTSC (@Ilkleytennis) 23. Juni 2019
“For the first set and a half he was dictating and I was just defending too much,” said Koepfer, as quoted on the ATP Challenger website. “I couldn’t find my rhythm. But later in the second I just found a way. The third set was a battle back and forth. Any point could have gone either way but to pull it out in the tie-break was lucky.
“Obviously I knew what was on the line. It’s a title and a Wimbledon wild card. My first main draw at a Grand Slam. There were nerves in the first set for sure, but I started to play a little looser and found a way.”
