ANTALYA, June 29, 2019

Lorenzo Sonego captured his first title on the ATP Tour, winning the last edition of the Turkish Airlines Open Antalya. The 24-year-old from Italy, who arrived at Belek riding a six-match-tour-level losing streak, fought past Serbian teenager Miomir Kecmanovic 6-7(5), 7-6(5), 6-1 in Saturday’s singles final.

In front of a few hundred spectators on another sunny and hotel day at the Kaya Palazzo Resort, Sonego fired 25 aces and saved one championship point in the 10th game of the second set to prevail after two hours and 46 minutes.

Lorenzo Sonego wins the final edition of the @antalyaopen in Belek to lift his first title on the ATP Tour. pic.twitter.com/LnCZiOmfVP

— TennisTourTalk (@TennisTourTalk) 29. Juni 2019

“It is the first title and I am so happy for my family, for my coach, for all the people who support me,” said Sonego. “I like, so much, playing on the grass, it was fun and now I am ready for Wimbledon. It is a good chance for me because I have a good feeling now and I will try to do the best.”

Sonego knocked off last year’s finalist Adrian Mannarino of France and No. 4 seeded Pablo Carreno Busta en route to the title match. The World No. 75 needed to finish his semi-final encounter against the Spaniard earlier in the day after rain suspended play Friday evening.

“It was a great tournament with the sea and the sun. It was hot but it was a fantastic week for me.” 

Sonego takes away from the Turkish Riviera 250 ATP Ranking points as well as  €76,840 in prize money. He will open his Wimbledon campagin against Spaniard Marcel Granollers. Kecmanovic gains 150 ATP Ranking points and receives €41,540. The 19-year-old will play Roberto Carballes Baena in the first round of The Championships.

Erlich/Sitak lift doubles trophies

Jonathan Erlich of Israel and Artem Sitak from New Zealand clinched the doubles title. The duo defeated Ivan Dodig of Croatia and Filip Polasek of Slovakia 6-3, 6-4. The encounter lasted one hour and 16 minutes. It was the first team title for Erlich and Sitak since winning on the grass in Newport last year.

Second team title on grass for Jonathan Erlich and Artem Sitak, winning the @antalyaopen in Belek. pic.twitter.com/uF1XC1IVdI

— TennisTourTalk (@TennisTourTalk) 29. Juni 2019

“[Playing on grass] is a big advantage for us,” said Sitak. “We are typical doubles players that come in all the time, go to the net and have good volleys and good reactions. We take advantage of that and we use that all the time against everyone.”

“We definitely expected the performance,” Erlich added. “We both knew that each one of us had the skills to beat almost everybody in this tournament and together we proved once that we [can] beat great teams and we [can] win titles… I think we both believed in our skills and in the team and we did great this week.”

Photo Gallery (by Florian Heer):