PRAGUE, July 29, 2019
Mario Vilella Martinez secured his maiden crown on the ATP Challenger Tour. The 24-year-old Spaniard defeated 17-year-old Chun-hsin Tseng of Chinese Taipei 6-4, 6-2 in Sunday’s final of the Cars Prague Open by Moneta Money Bank. The €46,600 event was held on the clay-courts of the CLTK Praha.
Vilella Martinez did not a drop a set all week and advanced to the title match with wins over US-American wild card Martin Damm, No. 6 seed Aleksandr Nedovyesov from Kazakhstan, ninth favourite Attila Balazs of Hungary, Italy’s No. 3 seed Lorenzo Giustino and compatriot Carlos Taberner. In the championship match, the World No. 208 from Elche broke his opponent’s serve six times to prevail after one hour and 25 minutes.
Vilella Martinez became the 23rd first-time winner of 2019 and took away from the Czech Republic €6,190 in prize money as well as 80 ATP Ranking points.
The moment Mario Vilella Martínez claimed his maiden #ATPChallenger title.
The 🇪🇸 streaks to the 🏆 in Prague, becoming the 23rd first-time champion in 2019. pic.twitter.com/c2Z6u9Mwjs
— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) July 28, 2019
On Saturday, Ariel Behar of Uruguay and Gonzalo Escobar of Ecuador took the doubles title. The No. 3 seeds fought past wild card entries Andrey Golubev and Aleksandr Nedovyesov 6-7(4), 7-5, 10-8 in the final. The encounter lasted one hour and 58 minutes.
